Baked Gulkand Jamuns

This dish was born as the confluence of two ideas.

Gulab jamun is one of Lil Angel’s favorite dessert. They are so easy to make too. One day she had this sudden craving and I decided to bake a few and make the remaining in the regular way to see if there was any difference.The baking idea was from Varadas blog.

And then there was another idea that Priya had planted in my mind long back when we met in her place.  I had a pack of gulab jamun mix and was thinking of some innovative way to use it up. That’s when Priya gave me the idea of using it up with a gulkand stuffing!

So armed with these two brilliant ideas, I made these baked gulkand jamuns!!!

The day I was planning to make this, I told Lil Angel that she would be getting her favorite dessert as as soon as she is back from school. I also told her that she has to taste the baked and fried versions and give me the feed back. She was so excited to be the ‘taste tester’ and readily agreed.

After school she eagerly came to taste both the versions. Into the same bowl I put the fried and baked versions. She ate both and said both tastes the same except one is darker and the other is light brown.

Then I pointed out the baked and fried version and she said she liked both the versions and the bro-sis duo finished off the whole batch!

For those who are new to Gulkand here is a small intro to the rose petal preserve aka Gulkand

Gulkand or Gulquand is nothing but sweet rose petal preserve.It can also be called Rose Petal Jam.This preserve is famous in India and Pakistan.

The preparation of Gulkand
involves mixing sugar and Damask rose petals and exposing them to
sunlight for more than 6 hours a day and this goes on goes 3-4 weeks. On
alternate days the mixture is stirred using a wooden ladle.

Generally, some additives are added to it. The one I got had poppy seeds, cardamom, powdered almonds.
 
According to Ayurveda, Gulkand has loads of health benefits…

• It is an excellent body coolant and reduces the Pitta / body heat.
• Gulkand has antioxidant properties.
• It rejuvenates the system.
• An effective remedy for stomach ulcers / acidity.
• For women, it is said to relieve menstrual pain and reduces white discharge.
•  It is a memory tonic.
• Acts as a mild laxative.
• Good digestive tonic.In my part of the world, a betel leaf wrapped
  up with gulkand and other digestives are served after a heavy meal.
  There are small shops that sell these too.
• Last but not the least it is an aphrodisiac!

So here is the baked gulkand jamuns….

 First take the sugar and water in a pan and heat it. Simmer it till the syrup feels sticky. You need not go up to the single string consistency. Keep aside.

Take the gulab jamun mix in a bowl. Add water little by little [ according to the direction on the pack] and knead to a smooth dough. Let it rest for 15 minutes. Divide it into small balls.

I made 8 balls with this for baking and used the rest of the dough to make fried jamuns. The pic below shows 9 balls. When I was using the stuffing, it oozed out, so to cover up the  gap used one ball in small batches for the other jamuns.

Flatten the balls and place a little bit of the gulkand and bring the edges to seal it into a ball. Flatten it lightly.Place on a tray lined with a baking sheet.

Brush oil over the jamins and bake in a pre heated oven @ 180 c for 10 minutes.The jamuns must just start turning brown at the bottom.Check the timing accordingly.
Now remove the tray from the oven and take out the baking sheet. Switch over the oven to broil mode and broil for 2 minutes. Watch very carefully. Flip them over and again broil for a minute or two,not more than that.

The jamuns will be a little bigger after this process.

Gently drop them into the syrup and heat the syrup on low flame for a few minutes. The jamuns will get even more bigger after soaking up the syrup as seen in the last pic in this collage below.

Soft Gulkand jamuns are ready to be served….

Note:

• Keep a small portion of the filling and seal the ball properly. Else it oozes out while baking.
• The number of jamuns you get will depend in how you divide the dough to make the balls.
• The baking time will vary. Keep an eye out 5 minutes earlier than mentioned in this post.

 Check out this page to see what else I have baked in this series…..