Gulab Jamuns

Gulab Jamuns

I have given each n every detail on making these Jamuns perfectly so please go through each & every step in the recipe before you start making the Gulab Jamuns. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Clear all your doubts before you start making these jamuns.

Makes 25 small Gulab Jamuns

Ingredients 

A. Ingredients For The Syrup

1. Sugar 4 cups

2. Water 4 cups

3. Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp

4. Saffron threads(optional)

5. Rose water 1/4 tsp(optional)

B. Ingredients For The Jamuns

1. Mawa milk powder or full fat regular milk powder 1 cup--a little heaped

2. Semolina 2 tbsp

3. All Purpose Flour 2 tbsp 

4. Baking powder 1 tsp--accurately levelled (see #3 in notes for details)

5. Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp 

6. Milk at room temperature 1/4 cup & 1/4 tbsp more

7. Ghee 11/2 tbsp 

8. Oil for deep frying 

Ingredients For The Garnish

1. Chopped pistachios 

A. Method Of Preparation Of The Sugar Syrup

1. In a skillet, add water & sugar & cardamom powder.

2. Keep stirring till the sugar in it dissolves completely. 

3. Bring the sugar solution to a sticky consistency. Do not bring the sugar to any thread consistency. 

4. Turn off the gas & add in the saffron threads & rose water 

B. Method Of Preparation Of The Jamuns

1. Take a large bowl & add the milk powder, semolina, all purpose flour, baking powder & cardamom powder. Mix everything together. 

2. Now add the ghee & again mix well.

3. Now add the milk little at a time & mix everything together & knead to a smooth dough.

4. The dough should be really smooth & not grainy. (Check C below for details on how to do it perfectly).

5. Pinch a little piece from the dough & flatten it on your palm & roll it into a smooth ball. (Check D below for details on how to do it perfectly).

6. The dough becomes dry if you let it sit uncovered on the countertop for a long time. So, if you are slow in making the balls, then while you roll a ball, let the remaining dough remain covered & also cover the rolled balls with a cloth too. If you think the dough is drying out too fast, then sprinkle a few drops of milk on the dough.

7. Deep fry the balls on low flame until they turn golden in color. (Check E and F for details on how to do it perfectly).

8. Drain onto paper towels.

9. Exactly in a minute(45-60 seconds)add the fried Jamuns into the sugar syrup. (Check G for details on how to do it perfectly)

10. The Jamuns need to be immersed in the syrup for an hour.

11. Garnish chopped pistachios on top & serve warm with vanilla ice cream. 

C. How To Check If The Dough Is Of the Right Texture

1. After u have finished kneading the dough, take very little & flatten it on ur palm. If it sticks to ur Palm & you're able to take it off easily, then the dough is of the right texture. 

2. If the dough is crumbly & doesn't stick to ur palm or if your not able to take it out easily, it means the dough is dry & tight & you need to add more milk.

3. You should be able to roll the balls fast & with ease, that is when you know your dough has got the perfect texture. 

4. If you feel you need to add more milk to the mixture, please add but make sure the dough isn't very sticky.

5. You need to knead the dough till it becomes smooth, soft & pliable. 

6. If the dough is too sticky, then add some more milk powder. 

D. How To Make Smooth Balls Out Of The Dough

1. Pinch a little from the dough & place it on your palm & roll it. Now you will be able to make a ball but with cracks. So again flatten the same ball on your Palm & roll it again. You should be able to see a perfect smooth ball with no cracks at all. Hence, flatten the dough on your palm & then roll it to get smooth crack-free balls (see pictures).

2. If your balls are not smooth & all cracked, they will become hard after frying them in oil. 

3. If the dough is too dry & crumbly, you will not be able to roll smooth balls. The dough needs to be smooth & soft, at the same time it should not be sticky but should be a little wet. 

E. How to Fry The Balls At The Right Temperature For Perfect Crack-free Jamuns

1. You can place the kadai/pan with oil in it & turn on the gas on a medium-low flame while u start making the balls out of the dough. If you take a long time to roll the balls, then please turn on the gas only half way through.

2. Immediately after you finish rolling the entire dough into balls, check the temperature of the oil. It should neither be too hot nor cold. 

3. To check the temperature of the oil:

A. Drop a tiny piece of dough into the oil, it should go right at the bottom & then rise up slowly to the top, then the temperature is just perfect for frying the jamuns. If the piece of dough rises to the top as soon as it is dropped in the oil & browns too fast, then it means the oil is too hot & not suitable for frying the jamuns. At the same time, if the dough doesn't rise to the top for a very long time & stays at the bottom of the pan itself, then ur oil is not at all hot & your Jamuns are going to break apart or become dimpled when you fry them. 

B.  You can even dip ur index finger into the oil to see if the oil is of the right temperature. If u could bear the heat, then the temperature of the oil is perfect. 

4. Now reduce the heat to low before dropping the Jamuns & using a spatula, stir/rotate the oil well before dropping the  jamuns. (This is done to create movement of the oil which in turn ensures even coloring of the jamuns & this should be done continuously right before dropping the Jamuns till the Jamuns are taken out of the oil ). Now slide the jamuns gently into the oil. Keep stirring around the sides of the oil without touching/disturbing the jamuns. As soon as the Jamuns are dropped, they go to the bottom of the pan, in a few seconds, there will be bubbles on the surface of the oil & slowly the balls start floating in the oil. You are still rotating/stirring the oil without touching the jamuns. You don't want your spatula to touch the jamuns until they become firm. Once they become firm, using a spoon/spatula, keep flipping sides to cook the Jamuns evenly. Using the back of your spoon, you may very very gently rotate the top surface of Jamuns too(like how you do for poori)

Rotating/stirring the oil before dropping the balls in the oil to ensure the movement of the oil

see, the balls at the bottom of the pan/kadai. Do not overcrowd the kadai with too many balls as the balls need space betwen them to move & only then they will color & cook uniformly.

see, bubbles have formed on the surface of the oil & the balls have slowly risen to the surface of the oil

See, with the spatula/spoon I am disturbing/stirring the oil around the edges without disturbing the jamuns as they havent become firm or havent started changing the color.

The jamuns have started changing color, they have doubled in size & see, there is space between each jamuns to move & there is also space for the oil to rotate around the jamuns.

See, there is constant rotation of the oil around the balls. This is important for the jamuns to cook & color uniformly.

The jamuns have cooked well & see the uniform golden color on them.

5. Sometimes one ball among the lot may stick to the bottom of the pan & may not be able to rise, in that case, using a spatula or a spoon, move the bottom of the jamun a little & it will immediately rise to the surface of the oil. 

6. It takes a minimum of 5 minutes for the Jamuns to cook in the oil. If your Jamuns get cooked as soon u drop them in the oil, then it means they haven't cooked well & the insides will remain hard & uncooked.

7. I took them out when they turned golden in color, if you want them to turn darker, then let them remain in the oil for some more time.

F. What Happens When The Oil Is Not Of The Right Temperature 

1. Your Jamuns will either break in the oil, or they will go flat & soft or they become dimpled if the oil is not hot enough.

2. If the oil is too hot, the Jamuns get browned too fast but they remain hard & uncooked in the center. 

If any of the above happens, then be sure that one of the reasons for that is your oil is not at all hot or too hot.

G. How To Prevent Your Jamuns From Going Mushy.

1. Drain the fried Jamuns onto paper towels.

2. Exactly in a minute(45-60 seconds), add them into the sugar syrup.

3. If you add them directly from the oil into the syrup, they will turn mushy & may also break in the syrup.

4. At the same time, if you leave the Jamuns for a long time on the paper towels & if they have cooled down, and then you add them to the syrup, then your Jamuns are not going to absorb any syrup & they will remain tasteless.

5. So add them to the syrup exactly in a minute.

Notes:

1. The dough should not be dry, tight, crumbly or flaky. The dough needs to be soft & smooth. 

2. Do not substitute baking powder with baking soda. 

3. I have added 1 tsp baking powder & got the perfect Jamuns so I suggest adding 1 tsp but each brand of baking powder gives different results. If your baking powder is too potent, then only 1/2 tsp would be enough. It depends on the baking powder that you use so I can't really say. Your Jamuns would go flat & mushy if you add too much baking powder. Do as per the recipe, if you felt it was a lot then reduce it to 1/2 tsp the second time you do. I suggest you try with 1 tsp first & if it doesn't work, only then go for 1/2 tsp. Do not try with 1/2 tsp first as I strongly believe that 1 tsp will give you great results. If it doesn't turn out good, then try the latter.

4. If you want the semolina to be soft before you add it to the dry ingredients, then you may soak it in 1/4 cup milk for 15-20 minutes before adding it along with the milk to the other dry ingredients.

5. I like my Jamuns to be golden in color, if you like it dark, then fry them for a little longer. 

6. Do not over crowd the oil with the jamuns. There should be some space between each of them otherwise they are not going to cook evenly. 

7. The sugar syrup needs to be warm when you add the Jamuns to it. It shouldn't be too hot or cold. 

8. If you don't have mawa milk powder, then you may use the regular milk powder.

9. At any point, you shouldn't stop stirring/rotating the oil gently to create movement in the oil. This is done to color & cook the balls evenly.

10. If at any point while frying you feel the temperature of the oil has gone down too low, then increase the flame, heat up the oil & then bring the flame to low & fry the jamuns.

11. If you want the Jamuns to be warm at the time of serving, then just microwave the Jamuns with the syrup for a few seconds or you can just warm them up on the gas stove.

12. I hope you have gone through each & every step. Now follow the steps exactly & I'm sure you can make the most softest Jamuns too.