Saturday, August 1, 2015

Instant Gulab Jamun


I know you are already drooling, aren't you?
Well who doesn't loveeeee these little dumplings dunked in a sweet syrup? Yet to find someone who will say no to this drool-some dessert !!
Gulab Jamun is one of the India's most popular desserts (and of course I would not wonder if it's even on the top of that list). It gets it's name from gulab (meaning rose flower: because the syrup is typically rose flavored) and jamun (a purple Indian berry: because when fried, the sweet dumpling gets a typical purple hue).

I know, I know.. I'm coming to the recipe. Typically this sweet is made of khoya, but this is an instant version and I have not used khoya because for one it takes long time to prepare; and for two I did not have khoya instantly available. So how did I make this? I used bread. Yes, I used left over bread to make this delicacy. Can't believe it? Read the recipe to know; and the pictures are the proof !!

Ingredients:

For the sugar syrup:

Water: 2 cups
Sugar: 1.5 cups (can reduce the quantity of sugar till 1 cup which will make syrup less sweeter)
Saffron strands: a few
Green cardamom: 2 (seeds and covers)

For the dumpling balls:

Bread slices: 6 (each slice makes one gulab jamun approximately)
Milk: 1/2 cup
Saffron strands: a few
Little oil to grease your palms
Oil to deep fry



  1. First, begin to prepare the sugar syrup because it will take time and it should be warm when the balls are ready. Add the water to a heavy bottomed pot and begin to heat it on medium flame. 
  2. When it is getting warm, add the sugar slowly and stirring the sugar in water. The sugar will dissolve quickly as the water is warm. 
  3. Add all the sugar and stir the water nicely and bring it to a boil.
  4. Simmer and leave it on low flame until the syrup is ready and is of one-thread consistency. By the time we prepare the dumplings.
  5. Take the milk in a wide bowl and warm it a bit. You can microwave it for about 5 seconds. 
  6. Cut the edges of all the bread slices and discard the corners brown part. Please use plain unflavored bread. 
  7. Dip each slice of bread in the milk and quickly remove back and squeeze out the extra milk back to the bowl. Add this bread to the blender. Repeat for all the slices and add all of the milk dipped-squeezed out slices to the blender and discard the remaining milk.
  8. Blend till smooth and take out in a wide bowl. Add a few saffron strands and start kneading the mix carefully; you can add a little milk powder if required but I did not add anything else. Do not knead a lot, but enough to get a smooth consistency.
  9. Grease your palms with oil and pinch out a little ball from the dough. Roll carefully between your palms to make a smooth ball. Do not make very tight balls, just roll to a smooth ball and ensure there are no cracks in the balls, because then the balls will break while frying.
  10. Make soft and smooth balls from all the dough and keep aside.
  11. Now heat the oil on medium high heat first and when the oil is hot (test by adding a small pinch of dough), add the dumplings one by one in the oil. Do not touch the balls in oil but stir the oil with a slotted spoon so the balls keep moving. 
  12. As you see the dumplings are beginning to change color from white to a darker shade, immediately turn the flame to low to ensure they cook well from inside. Stir the dumplings a little and let cook until they become a darker shade of brown and evenly cooked on all sides; keep stirring to ensure they are fully cooked.
  13. Remove the balls with a slotted spoon and take out on a kitchen tissue and let them cool for about 2 minutes. 
  14. By this time, the syrup will be ready and warm; so now add the balls to the warm syrup and turn off the flame for the syrup. You can add a few drops of lemon to keep the syrup from crystallization. 
  15. Don't keep the dumpling out to cool for long time as they will cool and won't absorb the syrup.
  16. After about 10 minutes, the balls will soak in the sugar syrup and become heavy and bigger in size. Now remove them on a flat plate with the help of a spoon and let them cool completely. 
  17. After they have cooled, transfer to a big bowl and add the sugar syrup over the dumplings slowly to let them soak more syrup. Serve hot or cold as you like !! Decorate with pistachio and saffron strands if you like. 




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Looking for more dessert recipes? Do try this Gulab jamun from ready mixGurudwara Kadha Prasad recipeMango Shrikhand and Strawberry Kaju Katli

1 comment:

  1. madam,
    I made the gulab jamuns but they turned hard like rubber after frying

    ReplyDelete

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