Formerly, at the end of Dvapara-yuga, all the cowherd men of Vrindavan had arranged to worship King Indra, but they gave this worship up, following the advice of Krishna. Instead, they performed a ceremony whereby they worshiped the cows, brahmanas and Govardhana Hill. At that time Krishna expanded Himself and declared, “I am Govardhana Hill.” In this way He accepted all the paraphernalia and food offered to Govardhana Hill.It is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.24.26, 31–33): "Prepare very nice foods of all descriptions from the grains and ghee collected for the yajna. Prepare rice, dhal, then halavah, pakora, puri and all kinds of milk preparations like sweet rice, sweetballs, sandesa, rasagulla and laddu."
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, therefore advised the cowherd men to stop the Indra-yajna ( Sacrifice ) and begin the Govardhana-puja to chastise Indra, who was very much puffed up at being the supreme controller of the heavenly planets.
The honest and simple cowherd men, headed by Nanda Maharaja, accepted Krishna's’s proposal and executed in detail everything He advised. They performed Govardhana worship and circumambulation of the hill. According to the instruction of Lord Krishna, Nanda Maharaja and the cowherd men called in learned brahmanas and began to worship Govardhana Hill by chanting Vedic hymns and offering prasadam.
The inhabitants of Vrndavana assembled together, decorated their cows and gave them grass. Keeping the cows in front, they began to circumambulate Govardhana Hill.” C.C Madhya 4.86 purport
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Bangala ( Bengali ) Rasgulla Recipe
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Homemade cheese or paneer balls soaked in chilled sugar syrup.
Ingredients for 12 Rasgullas using a pressure cooker
4 cups milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 1/2 cups water
Method:
To make paneer or homemade cheese, heat the milk in a heavy pan on medium-high heat until the milk comes to a boil. Make sure to frequently stir the milk as it burns easily in bottom of the pan.
As the milk comes to a boil, add the lemon juice slowly and stir the milk gently. When the milk starts to curdle, turn off the heat. Once the milk fat has separated from the whey, strain the milk into a cheesecloth or muslin cloth.
Pour some cold water over the paneer to remove the flavor of the lemon juice. Now strain out the water, by squeezing the cloth. The water in the paneer needs to be squeezed just enough so that the paneer is not too dry.
Taking the water out of the paneer is the most important part of this recipe. To check if enough water is out of the paneer, take a little piece of paneer on your palm and rub with your fingers. After rubbing the paneer for about 15-20 seconds, you should be able to make a firm but smooth ball. If the paneer is too dry, add a few drops of water, using the squeezed-out water from the paneer.
Once the paneer is drained, place on a dry, clean surface and rub with your palm until the paneer becomes a smooth dough and your hands turn a little oily.
Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and roll them in smooth balls.To make the balls , you should apply some pressure at first and then release when forming the balls.
Mix the sugar and water in a pressure cooker on medium high heat and bring to a boil. Add the paneer balls and close the pressure cooker. After the pressure cooker starts steaming, turn the heat to medium and cook for about seven minutes. Make sure the pressure cooker is large enough to accommodate the finished Rasgullas as they will expand to about double their size while cooking in the syrup!
Close the heat and wait a few minutes before you open the pressure cooker. Before opening the pressure cooker, put cold water over the pressure cooker. After all the steam has escaped, open the pressure cooker. The Rasgullas should be little spongy.
Offer and Serve chilled.
