Posted on

Gulab Jamun

INGREDIENTS

for dough

  • Four slices of small bread (whole wheat/ white) with cut corners
  • Three green cardamoms

for sugar syrup

  • 1 cup (200 grams) sugar
  • ½ cup (250 ml) water
  • One tablespoon rose water (optional)
  • 2-3 strings saffron (optional)
  • drops of lemon juice

other ingredients

  • 5-6 tablespoons coconut/ almond milk
  • oil for deep frying, as required
  • 10-12 pistachios/ almond/ raisins (for stuffing)
THE MAGIC:

Making bread dough:

  1. Take slices of bread and break them. Add in a grinder jar.  
  2. Add three green cardamom seeds.
  3. Grind to make a fine texture.
  4. Ground bread in a mixing bowl. Add two tablespoons of milk at a time.
  5. Mix and bring the mixture together. Add milk as required. In all, I used six tablespoons of coconut milk. You may add 5 to 6 tablespoons of milk depending on the type of bread used.
  6. Bring the whole mixture together so that it binds well in a soft dough. Do not knead hard as then the jamuns become hard. Cover and keep aside.    
  7. Now pinch small or medium-sized balls from the dough. Flatten them.
  8. Place a few sliced or chopped dry fruit in the center. This step is optional and may skip this step.
  9. Bring edges together and seal them at the center.
  10. Gently roll to form a neat ball. Do not roll it with too much pressure and avoid any cracks in the ball.
  11. Repeat with remaining dough.       Making sugar syrup:
  1. To another pan, add sugar and water.
  2. Keep the syrup on a low flame.
  3. Stir well such that all sugar melts.
  4. On a low-medium flame, cook the sugar syrup and stir occasionally.
  5. Cook the syrup till it gets half-string consistency. The syrup should feel sticky and not watery. If the syrup turns too watery, then the bread jamuns will break after soaking the syrup.
  6. Please switch off the flame and add rose water, mix it well and keep aside. Add a few drops of lemon juice to prevent crystallization. In case of the syrup crystallizes later, then add little water and heat it again. Stir so that the crystals break. Just heat and do not boil.

Frying gulab jamun balls:

  1. Now heat ghee/ oil in a kadhai for deep frying.
  2. Fry gulab jamun balls at low to medium flame.
  3. Keep pressing oil such that gulab jamun keeps rotating. Use a wooden spoon or butter knife for turning them as with a steel slotted spoon; they may break.
  4. Keep turning and rotating jamuns often while frying.
  5. Fry till gulab jamuns turn golden-brown.
  6. Then remove with a slotted spoon.
  7. Place gulab jamuns on a paper towel to remove excess oil.
  8. After a couple of seconds, when the jamuns are still warm, place them in the warm sugar syrup. Gently shake the pan or, with the help of a spoon, pour the sugar syrup on top of the jamuns or turn over each gulab jamun after a few minutes. Keep them soaking in the sugar syrup for a couple of hours.
  9. Garnish gulab jamuns with sliced pistachios or almonds.                

An optional step to make the gulab jamuns juicier and softer- Keep the jamuns in sugar syrup on a low flame. Gently heat the syrup, do not boil. Then cover and let the gulab jamuns soak the syrup for about 1-2 hours. Later you may refrigerate to store.

 

 

 

By vegan.conscious.living