Gulab Jamun

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.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Rest time 20

Total Time 55

Servings gulab jamuns

Calories 168kcal

Author Manju

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

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

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

Nutrition