Gulab Jamun Recipe

August 21, 2015

Gulab Jamun Recipe

Who wouldn't love to have a super treat to satisfied their sweet tooth. Gulab Jamun is so popular in India from north to south that now it is being made in many different colors, flavors and shapes by the mithaiwalas, to even more popularized the dessert dish.

The milk-solids-based dessert is similar to a dumpling, popular in countries of the Indian Subcontinent. The name itself tempts very much. In Nepal it is widely known as Lalmohan. This Rakshabandhan, impress your brother by gifting him Gulab Jamun. It will strengthen the brother-sister bond, like a magic.

Wondering how to make gulab jamun? You've come to the right place. Yes, you can now make India's favorite sweet easily.. at home!!

Ingredients

For The Sugar Syrup:

1 and 1/2 cup water

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp green cardamom powder (or just 2 green cardamom's)

1 roses' petals

1/4 lemon juice

For The Gulab Jamun Dough:

1 cup khoya / mava

1/2 cup all purpose flour / maida

1/2 tsp green cardamom powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

handful fresh water to knead dough

For The Sugar Syrup:

1) to a pan, add water, sugar, green cardamom and let it boil over a low-medium flame while continuously stirring it with a spatula/laddle, this would take around 10-15 minutes depending on the flame to get the consistency you desire.

2) once you complete around 5 minutes add the rose petals, and continue for another 10 minutes, until you receive the desired consistency which is (ek taar) = (one wire), the consistency of sugar syrup is measured by taking a part of the sugar syrup and dropping it using a spatula from a decent height and when it drops it forms a long continuous string like a wire, if it's too thick it drops as two wires, if even thicker then 3 wires and so on, for gulab jamun's we required 1 wire (ek taar) consistency which isn't very condensed or very diluted.

3) once you reach that amount of consistency, this temperature which is hot right now will not remain forever, and once your sugar syrup starts cooling or when you even refrigerate this later on, the sugar syrup will form crystals, what i mean is your sugar syrup will condense, if you want to maintain the same consistency no matter at what temperature, squeeze in 1/4 lemon juice to your sugar syrup, that's what we do at this step.

4) once your sugar syrup is prepared you can keep it aside, we would add the gulab jamuns to this sugar syrup later on.

For The Gulab Jamuns:

1) to a bowl add the khoya, maida, green cardamom powder, baking powder and a very little water you sprinkle and using your hands knead it for enough time so that you acquire a dough which is very soft and firm at the same time.

2) make round balls off this dough and don't make very large balls coz, the gulab jamuns would bloat and increase in size when you deep fry them, we get around 15 balls from this amount of dough.

3) to a kadai / pan add 6-7 laddle's of pure desi ghee/clarified butter, cooking at a very low flame, when the oil melts, add the gulab jamuns and they would settle down to the base of the pan, at this time they may get brown at bottom and not at top coz, they are in direct contact with the base, so make sure you stir a laddle in the oil so that the gulab jamun's never stay in direct contact with the base of the pan, make sure you don't touch the gulab jamun's with a sharp object they can break apart very easily.

4) in a short while after around 2 mins, the gulab jamuns bloat and increase in size and reach the surface of the oil and start floating, now they have also acquired a golden color, now you may keep stirring the melted ghee in the kadai using a laddle and after around total of 5 minutes, they would have now cooked, you can retain them, and the moment you retain them add them to the sugar syrup you prepared earlier, at this time your sugar syrup should not be very hot or very cold, it should be just luke warm.

5) serve hot and enjoy the sweetness.

Note: If you want, you can decorate the dish with rose petals or saffron threads or silver work! Some other serving suggestions are, serve the warm Gulab Jamuns with ice cream; Gulab Jamun with thick cream; Gulab Jamun garnished with shavings of dried fruit like pistachio and almond.Though, I like it as plain as possible :)