1 cup
Milk Powder
1/3 cup
Maida/Plain Flour
¼ tsp
Baking Soda
A pinch
of Salt (Optional)
1 tbsp
Yogurt or 2 tbsp Full Fat milk
1 tsp
Ghee or Oil
Few
slivers of Pistachio or Almonds for garnishing
For
Sugar Syrup:
1¾ cups
Sugar
1¼ cups
Water
8 Green
Cardamoms, peeled and seeds crushed to fine powder
A
generous pinch of Saffron
1 tsp
Rose Water (Optional but recommended)
Method:
Prepare
the sugar syrup:
· Add sugar and water in a wide pan
and heat it on a medium flame.
· Once the sugar dissolves completely,
add cardamom powder and bring it to boil by stirring every now and then. Let
the sugar syrup thicken slightly, about 2-3 minutes after coming to boil. You
don’t need to boil it until it reaches one thread consistency.
· Turn off the flame and run the sugar
syrup through fine sieve to remove any impurities.
· Transfer the sugar syrup back into
the wide pan and mix in saffron and rose water if using. Let it cool down to
room temperature.
Prepare
the Gulab Jamuns:
· While the sugar syrup is cooling
down, prepare the Gulab Jamun mixture. Sieve milk powder, plain flour, baking
soda and salt into a mixing bowl.
· Mix in yogurt or milk and
ghee/oil and start to mix the ingredients lightly to make soft sticky dough. I
didn’t need to add more than a tbsp of yogurt and a tsp of ghee but if you find
the mixture too dry and crumbly, just add little yogurt or milk about ½ tsp at
time until you get a sticky soft dough. Make sure that you don’t over mix or
knead the dough as we don’t want the gluten to form. The plain flour used acts
as a binding agent and if you over mix the dough then the gluten formed will
make the mixture dense and the gulab jamuns will not absorb the sugar syrup
well.
· Grease your palms with ghee or oil
and pinch marble sized dough and roll it into smooth round or oval shaped
balls. Make sure that the balls are small as they double in size once they are
fried and soaked in sugar syrup.
· Keep in mind that the dough balls
should be smooth without any cracks as they will split and crumble when deep
frying. Arrange the balls on a plate and cover it with a kitchen towel to
prevent from drying out.
·
Deep frying the Gulab Jamuns:
· Heat oil in a pan for deep frying
the gulab jamuns on medium flame and then reduce the flame to low. To test if
the oil is hot enough, drop one ball into the oil. The dough ball should slowly
float to the surface of the oil. If the dough ball sinks to the bottom and
stays there, then the oil is not hot enough. If the dough ball quickly floats
to the top as well as browns quickly, then the oil is too hot.
· Ideally the dough balls should not
crack when deep frying. If you find it spliting open or breaking when deep
frying, mix 1 or 2 tsp of plain flour to the dough mixture and lightly mix them
well. Pinch a small ball and test if stays in shape without cracking by
dropping it into heated oil. If it slowly floats to the surface of the oil
without cracking and evenly browns then you have mastered the art of
making Gulab Jamun. :)
· Gently drop 3-4 dough balls into the
hot oil and stir with them with a slotted spoon so that they get evenly browned
from all the sides. Be careful when stirring them with slotted spoon as they
are quite soft and can break if you are not gentle. Once they turn golden
brown, remove them from oil with a help of a slotted spoon and transfer them to
the prepared sugar syrup.
· Prepare all the Gulab Jamuns and
let them rest in the sugar syrup for at least 1 to 2 hours before serving so
that they absorb the sugar syrup well and become soft and melt in mouth
treats.
·
You can serve these delicious melt in mouth Gulab Jamuns warm,
cold or chilled on their own, garnished with slivered almonds or pistachio and
a generous spoonful of sugar syrup drizzled on top. One other most enjoyable
way to serve them is warm with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream!
