Gulab Jamun for SNC

The festive season has just gone by and I am here with a tasty ,spongy dessert fit for the festivities.Are you wondering why I made these?

South Vs North Challenge is a fun cooking group started by Divya . In this group the members are divided into the North or South team based on where they hail from. The members of the South team challenges the North team with authentic South Indian dishes and vice versa. So we get to learn and create a lot of authentic dishes from the other half of the country whose cuisine we may not be familiar with…

This time, one of the North Indian team member Pallavi challenged us with her version of Gulab jamuns. This had to be made from the scratch. We were given the recipe so it was breeze to prepare.

I have already posted a gulab jamun recipe made from the scratch ,which we posted as a part of Indian cooking challenge, but this one is slightly different.

I used:

Milk powder – 1cup
Baking powder – a pinch
Semolina / rava – 11/2 tablespoons
Maida-2 tablespoons
Cream- 2 tablespoons
Ghee- 3 teaspoons

Oil for deep frying

For sugar syrup

Sugar -1 cup
Water – 1 cup

Cardamom powder- a pinch
Nuts for garnishing

1. Sift the maida and baking powder.
2. Add this to the semolina.Put in ghee and mix well. 
3. Put in the cream and knead to a soft dough.If the dough is dry add a little more cream.If it is very stick add a little maida/ semolina.
4. Cover and let it rest for half an hour.
5. Pinch out small balls and keep aside.
6. Heat oil for deep frying.
7. Meanwhile heat water and sugar in a pan for the sugar syrup.
8. When the syrup is sticky to touch, pour into a vessel and add cardamom powder.
9. Test the oil [see note below] and drop the balls in batches and fry on low heat till golden brown.Genlty turn the balls around so that they don’t get burnt on one side.
10. Drop them into the warm syrup.
11. Repeat for the remaining dough.
12. Serve after it soaks up the sugar syrup garnished with nuts.

Note :

• Always check a small quantity of the dough by frying a couple of pieces before you proceed.
• If you add too much baking powder, the balls will split and crumble in the hot oil. If the balls crumble while getting cooked,add some more milk powder and check again.
• Don’t roll the balls too stiffly. When dropped into hot oil, the outer portion will turn dark but the inside will be doughy.
• Take care while making the balls. They will swell up after soaking. Small marble sized balls make perfect jamuns 🙂
• Check the temperature of oil by dropping in a small piece of the dough. If it rises immediately, lower the temperature and continue frying. If the dough piece turns black immediately, lower the flame, wait for a couple of minutes and then fry the balls.
• If the sugar syrup become too thick/crystalizes, the jamuns will not soak it up. In that case the jamuns will be of the same size and hard . Add a little hot water to the vessel in which the jamuns are soaking in the syrup. This will loosen up the syrup and the jamuns will get soaked properly. You can also heat the vessel with the syrup and jamuns in a very low heat but be careful not to burn the syrup.
• Sometimes the sugar may have impurites and the syrup will be cloudy. Just before taking the syrup off the stove, add a teaspoon of milk and stir well. The impurities will float on top. Remove it slowly with a spoon / ladle.
• The sugar syrup has to be warm while adding the fried balls, else it won’t soak up.If it gets cold, heat it gently.

Updated :

This recipe won the Well Presented Recipe Award… Check out the Roundup…..

Other Gulab jamun varieties:

Kaala jamun – Jamuns prepared with paneer and khoya.
Chocolate jamuns– chocolate stuffs jamuns perfect for kiddy party.

Bon Appetit…