Gulab Jamun
Soft, spongy and melt in mouth gulab jamuns drenched in delicately flavored sugar syrup is a traditional sweet in India. There are many ready-made Instant mixes available in market but no one comes even close to the taste of homemade gulab jamuns made from traditional mawa or khoya with this recipe. Yes, this recipe uses khoya to get the desired texture and flavor. This recipe also steers away from using rose flavored sugar syrup for more rich and delighting saffron flavored syrup. Make it from scratch today and shower your taste buds with its unforgettable taste.
How to make Gulab Jamun?
Ingredients-
- 1 cup finely grated khoya [dried milk] 135 grams
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour [maida] 33 grams
- pinch cardamom powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1.5 tablespoons melted ghee
- 1-2 tablespoons warm milk as needed to knead the dough
- For the Sugar Syrup
- 1.5 cups granulated white sugar 300 grams
- 2 cups water 16 oz
- 1.5 teaspoon rose water
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
- kewra essence optional
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Step by step instruction-
Making Sugar syrup-
Take 1½ cups sugar, 3-4 green cardamoms (or 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder) and 8-10 saffron strands in a deep pan.
Add 2½ cups water and bring mixture to boil over high flame. When it comes to rolling boil, reduce flame to medium and cook until sugar syrup is little sticky, it will take around 10-12 minutes. Stir occasionally in between. Turn off the flame. Sugar syrup is ready. After deep frying jamuns in later step, heat the sugar syrup for 4-5 minutes.
Making Gulab Jamun Dough & Balls:
1) If using frozen khoya then defrost it before your work forward. Grate it and measure by tightly packing into the cup.
2) Take khoya, all purpose flour, cardamom and baking powder in a bowl.
3) Mix well and as you pinch the mixture, it should start to come together.
4) Using frozen khoya, like me then add a teaspoon of water at a time and gather it make a firm dough ball. Do not knead, just gather.
- Using fresh khoya: it might have more moisture then mine (frozen). In that case no need to add water. If the mixture is too soft and loose then you may need to add a little more flour and mix.
In short, adjust the water and flour amount as needed depending on your khoya type.
5) Now divide into 22 equal portions and make smooth balls (crack-free).
6) Cover with the clean kitchen towel to avoid drying
Frying and Soaking Into The Syrup:
- Heat the oil/ghee in a pan on MEDIUM-LOW heat for frying. Traditionally ghee is used which gives a rich taste. Oil also works fine.
- Oil should be just hot. Not too hot like we do for pakora. Try checking by adding a small portion in the oil. It stays at the bottom of the pan for a few seconds and then comes on top steadily, meaning the oil is perfect for frying. If the added dough comes on top quickly meaning the oil is too hot.
Add one ball first and see. If it breaks while frying, add a little more flour in the dough and make balls again.
9) Add a few balls into the oil.
10) Once it starts to have tiny golden spots on them, keep turning and moving around for even frying. Fry till they are golden brown in color. During the frying process adjust the gas heat to keep the oil temperature consistent and make sure it does not get too hot otherwise you will have a raw lump in the center of the ball.
11) Once fried remove them in the plate and fry rest. One batch will take around 7-8 minutes. Once fried all of them let it cool for 5 minutes only. Do not add hot, fried jamun in the syrup, let it cool slightly and then add.
12) Now the sugar syrup may get cold. So just warm it up. And then add gulab jamun in the syrup. Jamun will float in the syrup. If they sink in the bottom meaning they are not fried properly, they are heavy and dense or they are raw from inside. Let it sit for 3-4 hours, during this time they will soak up some syrup and will get slightly bigger in size
Garnish with pistachios and serve gulab jamun warm or cold. You may also decorate them with edible silver leaf (chandi ka vark).
Add 2½ cups water and bring mixture to boil over high flame. When it comes to rolling boil, reduce flame to medium and cook until sugar syrup is little sticky, it will take around 10-12 minutes. Stir occasionally in between. Turn off the flame. Sugar syrup is ready. After deep frying jamuns in later step, heat the sugar syrup for 4-5 minutes.Making Gulab Jamun Dough & Balls:
1) If using frozen khoya then defrost it before your work forward. Grate it and measure by tightly packing into the cup.
2) Take khoya, all purpose flour, cardamom and baking powder in a bowl.
3) Mix well and as you pinch the mixture, it should start to come together.
4) Using frozen khoya, like me then add a teaspoon of water at a time and gather it make a firm dough ball. Do not knead, just gather.
- Using fresh khoya: it might have more moisture then mine (frozen). In that case no need to add water. If the mixture is too soft and loose then you may need to add a little more flour and mix.
In short, adjust the water and flour amount as needed depending on your khoya type.
5) Now divide into 22 equal portions and make smooth balls (crack-free).
6) Cover with the clean kitchen towel to avoid drying
Frying and Soaking Into The Syrup:
- Heat the oil/ghee in a pan on MEDIUM-LOW heat for frying. Traditionally ghee is used which gives a rich taste. Oil also works fine.
- Oil should be just hot. Not too hot like we do for pakora. Try checking by adding a small portion in the oil. It stays at the bottom of the pan for a few seconds and then comes on top steadily, meaning the oil is perfect for frying. If the added dough comes on top quickly meaning the oil is too hot.
Add one ball first and see. If it breaks while frying, add a little more flour in the dough and make balls again.
9) Add a few balls into the oil.
10) Once it starts to have tiny golden spots on them, keep turning and moving around for even frying. Fry till they are golden brown in color. During the frying process adjust the gas heat to keep the oil temperature consistent and make sure it does not get too hot otherwise you will have a raw lump in the center of the ball.
11) Once fried remove them in the plate and fry rest. One batch will take around 7-8 minutes. Once fried all of them let it cool for 5 minutes only. Do not add hot, fried jamun in the syrup, let it cool slightly and then add.
12) Now the sugar syrup may get cold. So just warm it up. And then add gulab jamun in the syrup. Jamun will float in the syrup. If they sink in the bottom meaning they are not fried properly, they are heavy and dense or they are raw from inside. Let it sit for 3-4 hours, during this time they will soak up some syrup and will get slightly bigger in size
- Tips and Variations:
- If you fry jamuns on high flame, they will immediately turn brown from outside and remain uncooked from inside, so fry them on low to medium flame.
- Do not make large size balls from dough because the size will increase after deep frying and soaking into the sugar syrup.
- Don’t add hot deep fried jamun directly into warm sugar syrup, let them cool for few minutes before adding and make sure the syrup is warm (not hot) while adding fried jamuns otherwise they will shrink in size.
- It gets its name because of the use of rose water scented sugar syrup since ancient times. If you like the rose flavor, you can add small amount of rose water to get a rose flavor in the syrup (instead of using saffron). Alternatively, add few dried rose petals in syrup after it is prepared.
- You can also use diluted maple syrup instead of saffron flavored sugar syrup for Canadian style gulab jamun.
- For variation, garnish it with pistachio powder or shredded coconut.
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