Gulab Jamun Recipe

There is no festival complete without making fresh Gulab Jamun from scratch. The flavor and texture of the homemade Gulaab Jamun recipe are absolutely wonderful.

Divya Pramil of ‘You Too Can Cook Indian Food’ came up with a marvelous idea for learning new recipes. Indian states are divided into 2 categories, South and North, and each month, both teams choose a recipe for the other team to try.

Coming to the recipe, for me, Gulab Jamun was always something that I made from the packet. Having never made it from scratch, this was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn.

The dish came out really well, and I am very happy to have learned something new in the festive season.

Preparation time - 20 mins Cooking time - 30 mins Difficulty level - easy

Ingredients - makes around 20 small Gulab Jamun

For the Jamuns -

Milk powder - 1 cup
Full-fat Milk - 6 tablespoon (you might need more or less depending on the dough)
Melted butter - 2 tbsp
Maida/APF - 2 tbsp
Rava/semolina - 1 ½ tbsp
Baking powder - ¼ tsp
Oil - to deep fry

For the sugar syrup-

Sugar - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Saffron - a few threads (optional)
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Red food coloring -a pinch (optional)

Procedure to make Gulab Jamun -

In a bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients mentioned under the jamuns.

To this, add the melted butter and mix well. Then add the milk slowly (1 tablespoon at a time) and knead to form smooth dough. Cover with a plastic wrap or a kitchen cloth and leave it aside for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, add the sugar and water to a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 10 mins. Then add the cardamom powder, food coloring, and the saffron threads. I left the syrup simmering until I was ready to dunk the fried jamuns in it.

Grease your hands well and shape the dough into smooth balls. Make sure the balls are smooth and have no cracks in them. The secret of making a smooth ball is to apply pressure when shaping it in between your palms. Keep aside covered with a cloth.

Heat oil in a kadai and once heated, add the shaped jamuns into the hot oil. The oil should not be smoking hot; otherwise, the jamuns would just cook on the outside and will remain raw inside. So make sure the oil is just the right heat and always keep the flame on low to medium when frying.

Once the jamuns are golden brown, drain them on a paper towel and then immediately add them to the simmering sugar syrup.

draining the Gulab jamun on paper towel - 11

Let the Gulaab Jamun soak for at least an hour and then serve either warm or at room temperature.

The dough should be very soft. Once, when I made the dough was too hard and crumbly, which resulted in hard gulaab jamuns. Make sure the dough is a little bit on the softer side because once we leave it aside, it tends to harden up.
Keep the sugar syrup hot when immersing the jamuns. This way, the jamuns soak up the syrup well.
You could garnish it with chopped nuts if you prefer. I like them clean and hence avoided any sort of garnish.

Similar Milk-Based Recipes

Kalakand - A Popular Bengali Sweet made with Ricotta cheese
Basundi Recipe | Basundhi Milk Sweet
Rice Condé Sundae Recipe | Creamy Rice Pudding
Kesar Pista Kulfi | Frozen dairy dessert made with Pistachios and saffron

Recipe

Ingredients

▢ 1 cup Milk powder
▢ 6 tablespoon Full fat Milk You might need more or less depending on the dough
▢ 2 tablespoon Melted butter
▢ 2 tablespoon Maida/APF
▢ 1 ½ tablespoon Rava/semolina
▢ ¼ teaspoon Baking powder
▢ Oil To deep fry
▢ 1 cup Sugar
▢ 1 cup Water
▢ Few Saffron Optional
▢ 1 teaspoon Cardamom powder
▢ a pinch Red food coloring Optional

Instructions

In a bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients mentioned under the jamuns.
To this add the melted butter and mix well. Then add the milk slowly (1 tbsp. at a time) and knead to form smooth dough. Cover with a plastic wrap or kitchen cloth and leave it aside for about 20 mins.
In the mean time, add the sugar and water in a sauce pan. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 10 mins. Then add the cardamom powder, food coloring and the saffron threads. I left the syrup simmering until I was ready to dunk the fried jamuns in it.
Grease your hands well and shape the dough into smooth balls. Make sure the balls are smooth and have no cracks in it. The secret of making a smooth ball is to apply pressure when shaping in between your palms. Keep aside covered with a cloth.
Heat oil in a kadai and once heated add the shaped jamuns into the hot oil. The oil should not be smoking hot; otherwise the jamuns would just cook on the outside and will remain raw inside. So make sure the oil is just the right heat and always keep the flame in low medium when frying.
Once the jamuns are golden brown, drain them on a paper towel and then immediately add it to the simmering sugar syrup.
Let it soak for at least an hour and then serve either warm or at room temperature.

Notes

The dough should be a very soft dough. Once when I made it the dough was too hard and crumbly that resulted in hard gulab jamuns. Make sure the dough is a little bit on the softer side because once we leave it aside, they tend to harden up.
Keep the sugar syrup hot when immersing the jamuns. This way the jamuns soak up the syrup well.
You could garnish it with chopped nuts if you prefer. I like the clean and hence avoided any sort of garnish.

Nutrition

More Milk Sweets and Ladoo / Laddu

Payatham Urundai | Moong Dal Ladoo | Pasi Paruppu Laddu
Andi Unda | Kerala Style Cashew Rice Ball
Double Ka Meetha (Eggless Indian Bread Pudding)
Therattipal | Palkova | Thirattipaal