Gulab Jamun

   Gulab Jamun, soft sweet balls with a nice aroma  and  a pleasant taste are  liked by almost every one. Diwali without gulab jamun seems imperfect. These lip-smacking balls are easy to prepare from easily available ingredients like milk powder, all purpose flour and milk. You can serve warm gulab jamuns with ice cream.

Ingredients

1. Milk powder – 1 cup
2. All purpose flour – 1/2 cup
3. Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
4. Unsalted Butter melted/ghee – 3tsp
5. Sugar – 1 cup
6. Water – 2 cup
7. Whole milk - As required, to make the dough
8. Cardamom  – 1 tsp  crushed
9. Rose water – 1tsp, or 1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
10. Lime juice – 1 tsp
11. Oil – to fry the balls

Method

To make the sugar syrup

1. To make the syrup mix sugar and water in a wide vessel and keep in a low flame.
2. Once the sugar is completely melted add the cardamom powder, rose water,  lime juice and keep in very low flame.
3. Stir the syrup in between. Care must be taken so that the sugar may not caramelize, keep the syrup warm.

 

To make the Balls

 

1. Mix milk powder, all purpose flour and baking soda.  Make a dough by gradually adding milk(whole milk). Knead properly to get a smooth dough.

 

 

 

2. Cover it with a damp cloth and keep for 15 mts.

 

3. Grease your hands with little ghee and make small lemon sized balls from the dough. The ball must be small since it will double in size while frying.  Avoid any cracks on the balls.

 

 

   4. Heat oil in a pan first at high heat and then reduce to medium. Fry the balls in the oil, the balls will sink to the bottom and then will start floating. Move the pan gently or stir the oil continuously so that the balls will get brown evenly. Never fry the balls in high heat,  since they will not get cooked inside. At right temperature, the ball will rest in the bottom for 5 mts and slowly will rise up. This way, the balls will be completely cooked from inside and outside.

  

 

 

 

5.  When the balls turn brown, transfer them directly into the warm sugar syrup. Close it with a lid.

 

6.  Remove the  sugar syrup from the heat and leave the gulab jamun balls in the sugar syrup overnight for better results.

 

 

Tips:

1. Instead of all purpose flour you can use any pancake mix.
2. Adding saffron to the sugar syrup will give additional color and flavor to the jamuns.
3. Never fry the balls in high heat.
4. You can also use 1/4 cup soaked sooji rava ( Soak it in warm water for about 5 - 10 minutes. Remember to drain the water completely before mixing it with milk powder.) and 1/4 cup all purpose flour instead of 1/2 cup all purpose flour.