When it comes to satiating those sudden sweet cravings, nothing can beat the unmatchable taste of melt-in-mouth, soft and piping hot gulab jamun. The history of this traditional mithai dates back to the Mughal era when a chef apparently created the much-loved dessert inspired by a Persian sweet delight.
Served at almost every shaadi, birthday party or get-together, no happy occasion in India is complete without a plate of delicious gulab jamun. Pair it with your samosa or have it with ice-cream, gulab jamun is the ultimate comfort food and is more than just mithai for many.
While Gulab Jamun is easily availble at every sweet shop, making it at home lets us experiment with the version of our choice. The common complaint everyone has while making this desi delicay is that the suji balls go easily dry and break while frying. Kapur shares some tips that will ensure your gulab jamuns turn out to be just perfect.
ALSO READ: Innovation with gulab jamun: fusion or confusion?
Tips to avoid breaking your gulab jamuns:
* While making suji ke gulab jamun, you have to make sure that suji doesn’t get excessively dry when you cook it in a pan. While removing it from the heat, if you feel it is hard, then mix a bit of milk in it to make it soft.
* The moment you take it out from the heat, you should shape it in round balls immediately as they may get dry quickly and will split while frying.
* While waiting for the oil to heat, you can add a few drops of oil or ghee to suji balls to keep them soft.
* You can also keep a wet cloth on the dough.
Here’s an easy gulab jamun recipe for you:
Gulab Jamun
Recipe by chef Kunal Kapur
Ingredients
For Syrup
Sugar – 4 cups
Water – 2cups
Kesar (saffron strands) – a pinch
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Lemon – ½ no
Water – ¾ cup
For Dough
Milk – 2cups/ 500ml
Rose water (optional) – 1tbsp
Cardamom Powder – ½ tsp
Suji (semolina, fine grain) – 1 cup/175gms
Ghee – 2 tbsp
Cooking Oil/Ghee for frying
Pista chopped – handful
Steps
FOR THE SYRUP
Make the syrup and take it to 1 string consistency. Remove 50% of the syrup and keep aside. The remaining 50% add some water and bring to a boil.
FOR THE DOUGH
In a pan add milk, cardamom powder and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and add suji in small batches. If you add all of it together then it will get lumpy.
Stir till all of semolina absorbs the milk. Do not over cook here as the more you cook the harder the semolina will be and that would dry up semolina and that would break the gulab jamun. Take out the dough at a stage where it is still very soft. Just before removing add ghee to it.
Remove it to a plate that is greased with some ghee.
Let it cool just a bit and then add another spoon of ghee and rub it till it becomes a smooth dough just like khoya mawa.
Rub some ghee in hands and then shape them all. Fry them and then dip them in hot oil. Once it browns add it to the thin sugar syrup. Make sure the syrup is Luke warm here. After 15 minutes transfer it to the thick sugar syrup and serve.
