Gulab Jamun is the classic Indian dessert that everyone loves. You can make the softest, melt-in-your mouth gulab jamuns right at home with this recipe.
Very similar to deep fried doughnut holes that are then soaked in a cardamom and saffron perfumed sugar syrup, Gulab jamuns are truly a delicacy.
Even though they may sound intimidating to make, this foolproof step-by-step recipe will guide you through to make these gulab jamuns from scratch. Trust me, you will never go back to buying those ready-to-make mixes again.
This dessert is so popular in India, that if you ask anyone to name one Indian dessert, chances are that most will choose Gulab Jamun. Weddings or other parties for festivals will most always have gulab jamun as one of the desserts.
If you have read this much out of curiosity and are still waiting to find out what on earth a gulab jamun is, let's go take care of that now 🙂 This may be a long post, as I have covered anything and everything you need to make soft and spongy gulab jamuns.
What is a gulab jamun?
Gulab jamun is a deep fried doughnut hole like confession that is then soaked in cardamom, saffron and rose flavored sugar syrup to make it soft and spongy. Unlike doughnuts, gulab jamuns are made with dried milk solids and just a little flour to hold it together.
Milk solids, also known as khoya, are traditionally made with cooking down milk until all the liquid has evaporated. These days you get ready to use khoya blocks right where you find paneer in most Indian grocery stores.
If khoya is not readily available, there are many recipes for gulab jamun that used unsweetened whole milk powder instead. I don't have a recipe for that, but from my understanding, substituting the khoya in this recipe for milk powder in equal quantities should work. I will update when I try that.
The festival season is here and I just have to share my now-perfected gulab jamun recipe with you all. I say now-perfected, because this is one recipe that I have tried to make so many times with something or the other going wrong every time. When I finally got it perfect, I really couldn't believe it, that I had to make it again a few more times to make sure that the recipe works. This is truly a tried and tested (many times!!) recipe.
So, let's go over some tips and answer some commonly asked questions when this dessert doesn't quite turn out to be how you want it.
Pro tips for soft, melt-in-your mouth gulab jamuns
- Pay special attention to the measurements in this recipe.
- The dough needs to be soft. While making the dough add warm milk to bring the dough together to form a soft dough. Be sure to not over knead it as this may result in the gulab jamuns becoming tough.
- When rolling the dough to make the balls, make it as smooth as possible. If it is not smooth, then the balls will crack when frying.
- When frying the jamuns, it is very important to keep the temperature low. This ensures that the jamun balls get cooked all the way through. Otherwise, you are left with balls that are burnt on the outside and raw inside. The ideal temperature for the oil while frying gulab jamun balls is 280-285F.
Why do the gulab jamun balls break when frying?
Doughy things typically break when deep frying because there is either too much moisture in them and / or it is not binding properly. Here if your jamun dough is wetter than it should be, it may break. It may also break if you add too much baking soda, which means it is puffing up and getting too much air causing it to not bind enough. It could also be that you did not add enough of the binding agents, which in this case is the all purpose flour.
Why is it raw inside?
Oil is too hot, making the gulab jamun balls to fry and change color on the outside too quickly while not cooking the insides all the way.
Why is my gulab jamun hard? How to make soft gulab jamuns?
Moisture again is the culprit here. This time it is from less moisture making the jamuns hard instead of more moisture making them break when deep frying. Making the dough just right and balling it without any cracks is extremely important to make great gulab jamuns.
They may also turn out hard with too much kneading. This is a dough that needs not be kneaded too much. You have to mix it all in till all the ingredients come together to form a smooth, non sticky dough.
What are the ingredients for gulab jamun?
Gulab jamun can be made with khoya (dried milk solids) or milk powder. This is a recipe for gulab jamun with khoya. You need just a few ingredients to make gulab jamun.
- Khoya
- All purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Whole milk
- Sugar
- Water
- Ground cardamom
- Saffron
Method for homemade gulab jamun
Make the dough
- Mix together the grated khoya, flour and baking soda, adding the milk a little by little to make a smooth dough.
- Do not knead too much. Just knead enough to make the dough smooth.
- Cover with a damp tea towel and set aside for 15-20 mins.
Make the sugar syrup
- Dissolve equal parts sugar in water and bring it to a boil. Add cardamom and saffron for flavoring.
- Simmer for 5 mins or so. Turn off the heat and keep it warm.
Make the dough balls
- This is probably the trickiest step of all. You need to roll the dough into balls that are as smooth on the surface as possible. (in the image below, 1 is not ok, 2 is ok, even if it can be smoother)
- Take about 2 tablespoon of the dough and roll it into a smooth ball between the palms of your hands. Try not to press the dough too much or apply too much pressure when doing this. This is important to get soft and spongy gulab jamuns.
1 2
Fry the dough balls
- Special care needs to be taken when frying the dough balls to ensure they are fully cooked through.
- To keep it as exact as possible and avoid any guess work by saying medium low heat, I use a candy thermometer and get the temperature of the oil to be between 280-285F (or in that rough range) and fry the dough balls in it.
- Add a few at a time and do not crowd the oil. The dough balls do expand a little as they fry and they need some pace to do that. Also, we need to keep the oil temperature intact and adding too many dough balls into the oil may affect that.
- Fry the dough balls till they are golden brown on the outside.
Soak the fried balls in sugar syrup
- Drain the oil from the dough balls as you take it from the hot oil and place them directly in warm sugar syrup.
- Make sure that the sugar syrup is warm. If it is cold, the dough balls won't absorb the syrup. If it is hot, the balls may disintegrate.
- Let them soak in the sugar syrup for at least 30 mins to an hour before serving.
Serving suggestion
- Serve the gulab jamuns with one or two in a bowl and pour some extra syrup over it.
- You can serve them warm or at room temperature.
- Serving warm gulab jamuns with ice cream is a favorite combo of many.
- If you do refrigerate it, take it out and warm in the microwave for 20-30 secs, depending on how many you are warming at a time. Check and heat more if needed.
Looking for more Indian sweets and dessert recipes? Here are some that you will love
📖 Recipe
Gulab Jamun
Ingredients
- 2 cups khoya
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 4-5 tablespoon whole milk warm
For the sugar syrup
- 2 ½ cup sugar
- 2 ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 5-6 strands saffron
Don't forget to check out Step-by-step instructions with photos in the body of the post above
Instructions
Make the dough
- Mix together the grated khoya, flour and baking soda, adding the milk a little by little to make a smooth dough.
- Do not knead too much. Just knead enough to make the dough smooth.
- Cover with a damp tea towel and set aside for 15-20 mins.
Make the sugar syrup
- Dissolve equal parts sugar in water and bring it to a boil. Add cardamom and saffron for flavoring.
- Simmer for 5 mins or so. Turn off the heat and keep it warm.
Make the dough balls
- Take about 2 tablespoon of the dough and roll it into a smooth ball between the palms of your hands. Try not to press the dough too much or apply too much pressure when doing this. This is important to get soft and spongy gulab jamuns.
Fry the dough balls
- Special care needs to be taken when frying the dough balls to ensure they are fully cooked through.
- To keep it as exact as possible and avoid any guess work by saying medium low heat, I use a candy thermometer and get the temperature of the oil to be between 280-285F (or in that rough range) and fry the dough balls in it.
- Add a few at a time and do not crowd the oil. The dough balls do expand a little as they fry and they need some pace to do that. Also, we need to keep the oil temperature intact and adding too many dough balls into the oil may affect that.
- Fry the dough balls till they are golden brown on the outside.
Soak the fried balls in sugar syrup
- Drain the oil from the dough balls as you take it from the hot oil and place them directly in warm sugar syrup.
- Make sure that the sugar syrup is warm. If it is cold, the dough balls won't absorb the syrup. If it is hot, the balls may disintegrate.
- Let them soak in the sugar syrup for at least 30 mins to an hour before serving.
Notes
- Serve the gulab jamuns with one or two in a bowl and pour some extra syrup over it.
- You can serve them warm or at room temperature.
- Serving warm gulab jamuns with ice cream is a favorite combo of many.
- If you do refrigerate it, take it out and warm in the microwave for 20-30 secs, depending on how many you are warming at a time. Check and heat more if needed
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