If there is one Indian sweet that is Iconic around the world, it is Gulab Jamun. These fried sweet dumplings are restaurant and family favourite, with every household adding their own little spin on the recipe. There are a few stories detailing how the delicious Gulab Jamun came to be a South Asian classic. Some say these recipe was born out of an accident in the kitchen of Shah Jahan (Emperor of India during the Mughal reign) while other accounts detail that the recipe came along with Central Asian Turkic invaders. The word Gulab in Persian languages, and many languages in the Indian subcontinent means rose while Jamun is the Hindi name for an Indian fruit (Black Plum) to which these dessert has a resemblance. So let me show you how to make gulab jamun
My recipe is a combination of my mother-in-law’s version and a few tweaks and changes that I have tested well. I’ve learnt a few secrets to getting the perfect jamuns
- Cook low and slow! This is important to ensure you get a beautiful golden color, without crisping the outside of the balls. By doing this you will also make sure the inside is perfectly cooked through.
- Smooth dough. It’s extremely important that the dough is smooth and doesn’t dry out and crack. If the dough starts to crack while rolling, go ahead an add a 1/4 tsp of milk (at a time) to help add back moisture.
- Humidity and Dryness. This is a comment more than a tip. The humidity in the air will alter the needs of the recipe particularly since there is ghee, cream and flour involved. In dry weather, this recipe will likely require additional cream, while if it is very humid, you may find less cream is required. Add the cream in small portions to that you can control this!
- Ensure the sugar syrup is completely cooled. Fresh fried jamuns can go into the cool syrup, but you cannot drop the jamuns into the hot syrup.
- Sticky syrup! There are a couple of ways to test the syrup. The first – dip a spoon into the syrup a drop a little droplet in cool water. If the syrup drop keeps shape and sinks, the syrup is ready. The second method – dip the spoon into the syrup, remove and let the syrup cool until you can touch it. Pinch the syrup between your index finger and thumb. If you can make a clear string of syrup roughly 0.5 cm to 1 cm then the syrup is ready.
Here is the recipe card! Gulab Jamun is a surprisingly simple recipe in essence, BUT there is also a large margin to make errors. Be sure to take your time and read through the card before committing to the process. Give yourself ample time and space to work on the recipe.
Gulab Jamun
Ingredients
The Dough
- 1/2 cup full cream milk powder
- 1/4 cup plain flour
- 3 tbsp full fat cream
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Ghee or vegetable oil for frying
The Syrup
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 cup water
- 3-4 pods cardamom pods lightly crushed
- 1/2 tsp rose water
- 1/4 tsp fresh lime juice
- toppings crushed pistachio, rose petals, and/or silver foil
Instructions
- Prepare the syrup first by heating the sugar, water, saffron and cardamom together in a saucepot over a low heat setting. Don't stir the pot or disturb the contents, and let this bubble and form a thick sugar syrup. To test if it is done, dip in a spoon to collect some syrup and let it cool on the spoon. Pinch the syrup between your thumb and index finger – if you can form a clean string 0.5 cm to 1 cm in length then your syrup is ready
- Once the syrup is ready, add the rose water and lime and stir. Set this aside to cool completely
- In the meantime prepare the dough. Start by mixing together the milk pwder, flour, baking powder and ghee until you get a crumbly mixture somewwhat resembling sand
- Slowly add the cream, 1 tbsp at a time and gently knead it through. The dough should be shiny and ready smooth with no cracks. Depending on the heat and humidity you may require more or less of the cream, so carefully add this in! If the dough is too dry, add 1/2 tsp of cream additional at a time until the dough comes together without cracks
- Brush the dough with a very small amount of ghee (enough to just lightly coat the surface) and keep the dough under a damp tea towel. This dough doesn't need to rest, but it should not dry out while making the dough balls
- Using your hands, roll the dough into small dough balls roughly 1 tsp to 1 tbsp in size and set under the damp towel while you continue
- Prepare a plate with baking paper over it to collect the fried dough balls
- Heat the ghee or oil in a pot or kadhai until hot, over a medium heat. Use a small piece of dough (hardly a drop in size) to test the oil heat. If the dough starts to cook immediately and bubbled form, the oil is ready. At this point reduce the heat of the pot to a low heat setting. The trick is to cook low and slow.
- Gently lower the dough balls into the oil. I usually place them carefully into my deep fryer/strainer and then lower them together into the pot. Don't overcrowd the pot otherwise the oil will cool down
- Cook the dough balls for roughly 3-6 minutes, until a light to deep brown color. Ensure they do not burn, so continuously turn this in the pot for even cooking.
- Remove the dough balls from the oil, strain and set on the prepared plate with baking paper to collect excess oil and cook down
- Let these cool for at least 5-10 minutes. On a colder night 5 minutes will be enough!
- Once the dough balls and syrup are cooled completely, add the dough balls to the syrup to soak up the rose, cardamom and saffron goodness for at least 2 hours, but ideally for 8 hours
- To serve the Gulab Jamun you can heat these up gently in a microwave to become warm, or serve at room temperature with some silver foil to garnish alongside some rose petals and pistachios
