Rasgulla, rasmalai, chum chum and kalakand on the sweets counter at Raj's Corner, 116 Beaumont Street, Hamilton. Sold by the piece or by the kilo.
Raj's Corner Hamilton keeps Bengali style sweets on the counter at 116 Beaumont Street, alongside the Punjabi barfi and laddu. That mix is unusual in Newcastle. Rasgulla, rasmalai, chum chum, kalakand, milk cake, chandrakala and the pink cutlet are all sold by the piece, and most are sold by the kilo as well.
Most Indian sweets Australians meet first are the North Indian ones: barfi cut into squares, laddu rolled into balls, dense with milk solids, chickpea flour, ghee and sugar. Bengali sweets are built on something else. They start with chhena, which is fresh milk curdled with a little acid and then drained, a soft cheese curd rather than a cooked down milk paste.
That curd is kneaded smooth and shaped, then either boiled in light sugar syrup or rested in thickened milk. Nothing is fried in ghee and nothing is set hard. The result is spongy rather than crumbly, and the sweetness comes from syrup the sweet has absorbed rather than from sugar packed into the body of it. A rasgulla squeezed between your fingers gives and then springs back. A barfi does not.
It also means Bengali sweets eat lighter. They are served cold or at room temperature, they are wet rather than dry, and one or two after a curry is a normal amount. If you have found Indian sweets too rich in the past, this is the family to try. If you want the denser end, the full Indian sweets range on Beaumont Street has the barfi, laddu and kaju katli too.
Prices are per piece first, then per kilo where the sweet is sold by weight.
The one to start with. A white ball of chhena boiled in light syrup until it is spongy right through, served sitting in the syrup. Mild, clean and not heavy. $32.00 a kilo.
The same sweet in a smaller ball, which makes it easy to try one without committing. Good for a mixed selection where you want more pieces on the plate. $32.00 a kilo.
Flattened discs of chhena soaked in sweetened thickened milk rather than syrup, scented with cardamom and scattered with nuts. Richer than rasgulla but still soft. Eat it cold with a spoon.
An oval chhena sweet, denser and chewier than a rasgulla, syrup soaked and usually rolled in coconut. Sweeter than rasgulla, so it suits people who find rasgulla too plain. $32.00 a kilo.
A set milk sweet with a grainy, slightly crumbly texture, made from milk cooked down with curd. Not syrup soaked. Milder and less sugary than barfi, which is what people usually compare it to. $32.00 a kilo.
Milk reduced slowly until it browns and caramelises, then set and cut into squares. Fudgy in the middle, darker in flavour than kalakand. The firmest thing on this list. $32.00 a kilo.
A half moon pastry with a sweet milk and nut filling, fried and then soaked in syrup. Crisp on the outside, soft inside. The one to pick if you want something with a bite to it.
A flat, pale pink chhena sweet, soft and lightly sweetened, cut into a slab rather than rolled. Looks like a little cake and eats like a rasmalai without the milk. $32.00 a kilo.
Pick them up at the counter with your curry, or add them to a delivery. Free delivery after 5:00pm within 5km.
Buy single pieces. A small rasgulla at $1.50 and a rasmalai at $4.00 is a fair first taste of both ends of the family, the plain syrup one and the creamy one. Ask at the counter and we will box them.
Buy by weight. Rasgulla, chum chum, kalakand, milk cake and the pink cutlet are $32.00 a kilo, so you can mix a box across the syrup sweets and the set milk sweets without doing sums per piece.
Sweets go on the same order as the food. Add them when you order at the counter, or put them on an online order with your curry from the Beaumont Street menu. Delivery is free after 5:00pm within 5km.
Bengali sweets are made from chhena, which is fresh milk curdled and drained into a soft curd, then kneaded and shaped. They are usually boiled in light syrup or rested in thickened milk, so they are spongy and wet. North Indian sweets such as barfi and laddu are built from cooked down milk solids, flour, ghee and sugar, so they are dense and dry. Bengali sweets taste lighter and less sugary for that reason.
Rasgulla and rasmalai. Rasgulla is the plain introduction, a spongy chhena ball in light syrup, and a small one is $1.50 so it costs almost nothing to find out if you like the texture. Rasmalai at $4.00 is the richer one, soaked in sweetened thickened milk with cardamom and nuts. Between them you have seen what the whole family does.
Yes. At the Beaumont Street counter rasgulla, chum chum, kalakand, milk cake and the pink cutlet are $32.00 a kilo, and they are also sold as single pieces. Buying by weight is the easier way to put together a mixed box for a family dinner or a festival.
The Bengali sweets are on the counter regularly but the stock varies from day to day, and some varieties sell out. If you are making a special trip for a particular sweet, call us on (02) 4962 1827 first and we will tell you what is in the case right now.
Yes, the same counter carries the Punjabi side of the range. Gulab jamun and black jamun are $2.80 a piece, and there is barfi, besan and boondi laddu, kaju katli, peda and jalebi as well. Read more about gulab jamun at Raj's Corner or the whole Indian sweets counter in Newcastle.
We are at the Hamilton end of Beaumont Street, with the family Indian grocery next door. Order at the counter, eat in the dining room or take a box home. No bookings, just walk in.