Rasabali

Rasabali is a sweet from the state of Odisha in which fried pieces of a milk-based sweet are soaked in thick, sweet milk. Flattened rounds of chhena are fried to a reddish brown and soak up reduced milk. The cardamom-scented milk and the soft dough are scooped up and eaten together.

Rasabali soaking in milk (2016, Swetapadma07 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0). Reduced-size version from the source used; no content changes after retrieval.

Soaking Fried Chhena in Milk

Chhena is milk that has been curdled and drained of its liquid. It is kneaded, shaped into small discs, and fried until coloured. In a separate pan, milk is reduced, sugar and flavourings are added, and the fried discs are soaked in it. The fried discs absorb the sweet milk and are served in a bowl together with the reduced milk. Flattening the chhena makes it easier for the fried pieces to absorb the milk. Frying the milk solids first and then combining them with milk again layers a toasty flavour with the mellowness of milk.

For home cooks, there is also a method in which a little flour is mixed into the chhena and a hole is made in the centre with a finger before frying. Another household example adds no flour; softly kneaded chhena is flattened and fried. Even for the same milk sweet, the shape and proportions vary from maker to maker.

Although it uses the same chhena, chhena gaja is soaked in sugar syrup after frying. In rasabali, the reduced milk also remains in the dish, becoming a sauce that is eaten together with the dough.

In Nepal, under the name “rasbari,” there is also a method in which curdled milk is rolled into balls and cooked in sugar syrup. The names are similar, but the cooking method differs from that of rasabali, in which fried dough is soaked in sweet milk.

From Temple Offering to Town Sweet

At the Baladevjew Temple in Kendrapara, rasabali is known as a sweet offered to the deity. Local confectioners have also continued to make it outside the temple, and the name “Kendrapara Rasabali” was registered as a geographical indication in 2023. Baishnab Panda, who makes rasabali at Keshpur market, says that the sweet long offered at the temple has come to be sold in town shops and at festivals as well. Local producers welcomed the 2023 registration as an opportunity to make the name of their area known. Some stories link the sweet’s origins to the temple, but when it was first made is uncertain.

Glossary