Nov 12, 2015, Updated Sep 25, 2024
Why I love Gulab Jamun
Gulab Jamun is one of the most popular Indian dessert recipes made from fried dough balls soaked in a sweet syrup. The syrup is often flavored with cardamom and rose water or saffron. The dough is typically made from milk solids like khoya or milk powder, sometimes mixed with flour, and then fried until golden. Once fried, the balls are soaked in the warm sugar syrup, absorbing the sweetness and gaining a soft and spongy texture. It’s often served during festivals, celebrations, or special occasions. I love them served warm with a hot masala chai and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Tested-Til-Perfect Homemade Gulab Jamun Recipe
Today, I’m sharing my tested-till-perfected Gulab Jamun Recipe. If you’re coming here as a “Gulab Jam” aficionado, these ones are the best. During the arduous process of developing this recipe, I made no fewer than five variations. It kept me awake at night. With my in-laws in town, we are celebrating the Indian holiday Diwali today. We spent the day together in the bright, cold November sunshine, wrapped in wooly scarves and chunky, hand-knit hats. Because it’s a food-centric holiday filled with traditional Indian sweets recipes, I spent two days obsessively working on this gulab jamun recipe.
How To Make Gulab Jamun
The thing about Gulab Jamun is that they aren’t particularly difficult to make, but they are difficult to make perfectly. The base is milk powder and a bit of flour with milk added to form a soft sticky dough that is fried and then dunked in hot, cardamom-infused syrup. (Seriously, you’re sold, right??!) The question that everyone who makes them at home asks. If you’ve ever had them at a restaurant, you know that good gulab jamun have super soft and spongy insides, allowing them to soak up the syrup deeply.
3 Secrets to the Best Gulab Jamun
The important keys to getting them perfect in your own kitchen, I found, are as follows: The first dough picture you see above was an earlier trial – it was too heavy, and while it made perfect, plump little balls, they weren’t tender. The consistency below, which is like a waffle batter, is too loose to be shaped by hand, but dropped into the hot oil, it makes the lightest, spongiest, softest gulab jamun you can achieve at home. (As you can see from the picture of the saucepan above, they aren’t smooth spheres but still puffed and lovely in their imperfection.)
More Gulab Jamun Recipe Notes
You can use less milk if you prefer to shape them by hand into perfect balls, as is traditionally done – just start with about 5 tablespoons of milk and oil your palms to shape pieces of dough.
Keep in mind that the dough gets drier and heavier as it sits, and if they are heavy before cooking, they will be tough after cooking. Store leftover gulab jamun in the rosewater liquid.
As with pancakes, muffins, etc. you should stir gently and only until ingredients just combined. If you work the dough too much, it will be tough. Use whole milk powder if you can find it. If not you can use the skim milk powder available at North American grocery stores. Work in batches so you don’t over-crowd the pan. Use a slotted spoon to allow the excess oil to drain off before adding them to the syrup. A sprinkling of rose petals and/or sliced almonds makes a beautiful garnish!
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