Gulab Jamun Recipe

Gulab jamun is a sweet confectionery or dessert, originating in Persia and then later introduced to India. It is traditionally made from milk solids(mawa/khoya) which is milk reduced to the consistency of a soft dough. This Khoya is then kneaded with all purpose flour and small even balls of this dough are then deep-fried in oil or ghee at a low temperature. These Golden balls are then soaked in a light sugar syrup flavored with green cardamom, rose water and saffron.

The word “gulab” is derived from the Persian words gol (flower) and āb (water), referring to the rose water-scented syrup. “Jamun” or “jaman” is the Hindi/Urdu word for an Indian fruit with a similar size and shape, commonly known as black plum. Jamun is also defined as a fried delicacy in sugar syrup.

I have made this recipe using both milk and milk powder method which takes less time but got good results only from the milk method. It only takes some time and patience but its all worth it at the end. The dough will be very smooth and crack free balls can be easily made without any hardship. The texture also will be soft juicy and melt in mouth. These fried delicacies will remain soft for days after.

Gulab Jamun Recipe

Gulab jamun is a popular Indian dessert made of fried balls of a milk based dough and flour and then soaked in an aromatic rose and saffron scented sugar syrup.

Servings 12

Ingredients

• Full fat Milk 1 Ltr
• Malai Paneer 3 Tbsp | 50g (Optional)
• All Purpose Flour/Maida 3Tbsp 
• Ghee 1 Tbsp 
• Baking powder 3/4th Tsp 

FOR SUGAR SYRUP

• Sugar  2 1/2 Cups | 500gms
• Water 2 1/2 Cups 
• Green Cardamom/Elaichi 4 Roughly Crushed
• Saffron/Kesar 1/4 Tsp 
• Lemon juice 1 Tsp 
• Rose water/Gulab jal 1 Tbsp 

Instructions

• Boil Milk in a non stick pan or a heavy bottomed pan on a medium flame. Keep stirring, do not let it stick. Once reduced to half, reduce the heat to lowest and then keep stirring continuously.
• Do not let any skin to form on the sides. Once the milk reduces to 1/4th and becomes like condensed milk, switch off flame. Keep stirring it in the hot pan itself, removing any lumps making it smooth. Let it cool down.
• I measured the weight of the homemade mawa, it was around 190gms this depends on the quality of the milk.
• Cover and keep the Mawa in a warm place till you make the sugar syrup.
• Boil Sugar and Water with Cardamom roughly crushed and saffron. Once sugar gets dissolved, cook in medium flame for 5-6mins only till it becomes slightly sticky. No String consistency required. Add Lemon juice to prevent any crystallization and rose water. Cover and keep warm.
• Grease your hands and Mix Crushed Paneer with the Mawa, Knead both till smooth and fine textured. Add Maida 1 tbsp at a time and lightly knead the dough. Do not press hard. Add Ghee at the end and roughly form a dough. No kneading required. Add Baking powder at the end and gently fold it into the dough. Cling wrap the dough and let it rest for 10-15mins.
• After resting the dough will be smooth and wont stick to to your fingers. Make round balls, i measured mine of 16gm weight each and made 16 balls total last of which came around 11gm only. Do not make Big shapes else the syrup will not go inside.
• Cover the balls with a wet muslin cloth to prevent drying out and heat oil and ghee in a deep pan. I used half and half oil and ghee but you can fry only in Ghee. Do not fry only in Oil if you dont want to compromise the taste. Ghee gives such a wonderful richer taste!
• Oil should be moderate hot else the balls will get browned too fast and wont cook inside. Check by dropping a small ball and see if it slowly rises up and do not color fast.
• Take a spoon and rotate the oil dropping the balls one at a time, making sure they dont stick to the bottom. Do not touch the balls directly with the spoon else they might crack.
• Once they rise up, keep turning them around in low heat. Once Golden, drain them out and immerse them into hot sugar syrup. Bring the syrup to a boil first then soak the fried jamuns. Cover and keep aside. Fry the second batch in the same process. Do not fry all the jamuns together.
• Let the Jamuns soak in the syrup for atleast 3-4 hours or overnight best.
• Serve them hot with Vanilla Icecream or Kulfi. Bon Appetit!

Video

Notes

Use Full Fat milk for best results. Do not let the milk burn else the mawa will turn brown.

Do not allow the mawa dough to get too much dry, it should be moist to have soft jamuns.

Once balls are made, they should be fried immediately else they will get dry and start cracking.

Sugar syrup should be brought again to a boil first and then the hot fried balls should be immersed. I usually start heating the syrup as i fry the jamuns to keep it ready. This way the syrup will go inside the balls.

Instead of making the homemade mawa, store bought mawa can also be used in this recipe. Use 190gms of Mawa instead but the softness might vary so adjust the flour accordingly. Do not add too much flour.

Paneer is optional but gives a nice color and taste to the Jamuns.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: gulab jamun, khoya gulab jamun, mawa gulab jamun