Hi buddies! It’s dessert time! So like I mentioned in the previous post that we had guests for lunch on the auspicious occasion of Raksha Bandhan the other day, we had Gulab Jamun and vanilla ice-cream for dessert. Gulab Jamun is one of the most well-known and much relished Indian sweets. It consists of fried dumplings dipped in sugar syrup that is laced with the mesmerizing flavor of cardamoms. The dumpling is made from milk solids and leavening agents. It is a bit crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. But when you soak the dumpling into the warm sugar syrup for a few hours, it gets transformed into melt-in-the mouth delicacy.
This recipe of Gulab Jamun uses milk powder, maida (refined flour) and rawa (semolina). Rawa renders a nice texture to these gulab jamuns, which is quite similar to that of khoya gulab jamuns.
Milk powder is a delicate ingredient. So we add baking powder and not baking soda to this recipe. They sugar syrup should be thick, else the gulab jamuns will collapse.
gulab jamun recipe
This recipe will take just about 30 minutes to get ready and yields about 45 gulab jamuns. So let us see how to make gulab jamuns.
| IngredientsFor Making the Dumplings
- Non-fat milk powder – 3 cups
- Dalda ghee / Vegetable shortening – 3 tsp, at room temperature
- Maida / Refined flour- 3 tsp
- Semolina- 3 tsp, soaked it warm water for 5 minutes and drained well
- Baking powder- 3/4 tsp
- Milk – 2/5th cup or just enough to make soft and crumbly dough
- Oil – For deep frying
For Making the Sugar Syrup
- Sugar – 3 cups
- Water – 2 cup
- Lemon Juice – 1 tsp
- Milk – 2 tbsp
- Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
- Rose water – 1 tsp
- Saffron – A few strands
How to Make Gulab Jamuns
- First we will prepare the sugar syrup. Take water and sugar in a heavy bottomed pan. Stir it for 2-3 minutes with the help of a spoon or ladle so the sugar would dissolve in the water. However, it may not dissolve completely. Put the pan on the flame and bring the solution to boil. Stirring it occasionally to get the sugar to dissolve completely. Add lemon juice to it. This will prevent the syrup from getting crystallized.
- Boil the syrup for 8 to 10 minutes on medium heat till it attains 1-string consistency. For milk powder gulab jamuns, the syrup needs to be thicker. Add in the cardamom powder at this stage.
- During the final 2 minutes, add in the milk. The milk will help separate the sludge from the syrup. Carefully remove the sludge that floats up to the top with the help of a spoon. Turn off the heat.
- Strain the sugar syrup using a fine sieve or a clean muslin cloth. Add in the crushed saffron strands and rose water and mix well. Set the syrup aside to cool down a bit. In the meanwhile, let us make the dumplings.
- For the dumplings, take milk powder in a wide bowl. Add to it the dalda ghee / vegetable shortening and mix them well using your fingers. Then rub the mixture between your palms to make an even, dry and crumbly mixture. This exercise helps the shortening get distributed evenly throughout the mixture.
- Add in the sifted maida / refined flour and baking soda. Combine them well. Add in the semolina and mix again.
- Now, sprinkle some milk little by little and mix it nicely with your fingers. We need soft dough. We have to knead the mixture. Instead we just have to mix it with our fingers to form dough that is not stretchy. The dough should break off easily into pieces when you pull it apart.
- Set the dough it aside for about 10 minutes. Remember to cover the bowl containing the dough.
- After the dough has rested, divide it into around 45 parts and roll them out between your palms into smooth balls. It should be a smaller than the lemon. When we fry the dumplings, they will fluff up. They will fluff up furthermore when we add them to the sugar syrup.
- Heat oil in a wide skillet. The oil should not be smoking hot. It should be just hot enough. When you drop a small piece of the dough into the oil, it should sizzle and slowly float up to the surface.
- Deep fry the dumplings and keep stirring them constantly so that they get an even golden brown color. Frying may take 7-8 minutes. Taste a dumpling to make sure they are not raw on the inside.
- Remove the dumplings from the oil when done. Drain the excess oil on the kitchen towel. Add these dumplings into the warm sugar syrup. Let them soak stand for a couple of hours so that they absorb the flavors and sweetness of the sugar syrup.
- Gulab Jamuns are ready to be served. Serve them at room temperature. I like them served hot on the bed of super-chilled vanilla ice-cream!
Serve them as you like. The gulab jamuns can be stored in the fridge for about 3 to 4 days, only if any of them are left! 😀 You can warm them up in the microwave or simply on the stove top in a pan.
Enjoy! |