Gulab Jamun

Gulab Jamun is a popular Indian Dessert where the dough is deep fried and soaked in sugar syrup.
Gulab Jamuns can be made at home from scratch or the mix can be purchased in any local indian store. I have tried out both the recipes and have given both below.


From Mix:
Makes around 40
Ingredients Required:
Gulab Jamun Mix - 1 Packet
Sugar - 4 Cups
Water - 6 Cups
Cardamon - 1 tsp, powdered
Milk - 2 tbl.sp
Ghee/ Oil - For deep frying
Almond Slices - 1/4 Cup (Optional)
Saffron - 2 tsp (Optional)

How to make?
Mix the Gulab jamun mix with milk and make it into a tough dough.
Heat the sugar and water in a large vessel so the sugar melts in the water.
Heat oil/ghee in a pan for deep frying.
Make small balls of the dough, make sure that there are no cracks in the ball else it will break while deep frying them.
The balls will get bigger after frying and soaking in the syrup, so make the size of the balls small.
Deep fry the balls in the oil/ghee and once the balls turn dark brown in color drop them gently in the sugar syrup.
Let the jamuns soak in the syrup for atleast 8 hours so they become soft.
Garnish with saffron and sliced almonds and serve.
Gulab Jamuns taste great with vanilla ice cream.


From Scratch:
Ingredients Required:
Milk Powder - 2 cups
Maida - 4 tsp
Shortening/butter - 2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1/4 Cup
Oil for deep frying

For the Sugar Syrup:
Sugar - 2 Cups
Water - 2 Cups
Rose Water - 2 tbsp
Cardamom Powder - pinch
Lime Juice - 1 tsp
(Reason: Lime juice gives acidity to the syrup and hence the syrup would not solidify)

How to make?
Mix the dry ingredients and then add the shortening or the butter.
Mix well with the powder so it becomes moist.
Slowly sprinkle milk little by little on the powder and mix till it solidifies.
It is not required to knead the dough, just mix well till it is soft and cover with napkin and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Make small balls out of the dough. Make sure that there are no cracks in the balls.

Sugar Syrup:
Dissolve the sugar in water with the lemon juice and heat on medium heat till it comes to boil, add the rose water and cardamom powder.

Heat oil on medium low heat and when the oil is hot, deep fry the balls till golden brown in color. Do not fry the boils in very hot oil as the inside would not get cooked. It would take 5 minutes for the balls to become golden in color if the oil is of correct heat.
Drop the balls in the hot sugar syrup. Let it soak for 2 hours before serving so the gulab jamuns would have absorbed the sugar syrup and would have become soft and big.
I love the Gulab Jamuns with Vanilla Ice cream! Try it out :)


How to make Dry Gulab Jamun?

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