There a very few people who don’t like Gulab Jamun, as for us, we just love them. It is a perfect dessert for any occasion - wedding, birthday party, potluck or a romantic dinner for 2! An unbelievable combination is hot, hot Gulab Jamuns with cold, cold Ice Cream…yum…just thinking about it makes our mouth water. Gotta go now, have Gulab Jamuns to make!
Ingredients:
Instant Dry Milk (Milk Powder) - 1/2 cup
All Purpose Flour - 2 tbsp
Yogurt - 2 tbsp
Clarified Butter - 1 tbsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Water - 2 cups
Sugar - 2 cups
Rose Essence - few drops, optional
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp or to taste
Saffron - few strands, optional
Oil - for deep frying
Method:
1. Make the syrup in a pan by adding Water, Sugar, Rose Syrup, Cardamom Powder and Saffron.
2. Put the pot on the flame and bring to boil. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat and allow it to simmer.
3. Meanwhile, get the oil for deep-frying ready. Heat up the oil on low-to-medium heat.
4. For the dumpling, in a mixing bowl , add in all dry ingredients i.e Instant Dry Milk , All Purpose Flour, Baking Soda.
5. Mix well and add in the Clarified Butter and after that slowly start mixing in the yogurt. Make into a dough.
6. Allow it to rest for 5 minutes. Make desired size balls, make sure they are smooth and do not have any creases.
7. Test the oil by dropping a small piece of dough, if it sits at the bottom of the pan for a minute before coming to the surface, the oil is ready.
8. Carefully drop 3-4 dumplings in the oil and keep rotating them for an even color.
9. Once the dumplings are a dark golden brown, take them out into a paper towel.
10. Bring the syrup to another quick boil and drop in the dumplings.
11. Turn off the flame and cover the Gulab Jamuns and let them soak in the syrup for 45 minutes to an hour.
12. Gulab jamuns can be served hot or cold. This recipe makes about 10-15 Gulab Jamuns.
Tips:
1. The one thing we cannot emphasis enough is the temperature of the oil for frying…it is the key to making good gulab jamuns. It has to be on low-to-medium heat.
2. The dough is a little on the crumbly side…so use a little oil on your hands and make the ball and flatten it out and then roll it to a ball…this will help smoothening out the cracks.
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December 21st, 2007 at 9:44 am
Hi,
Great recipe…i want to know if the curd/yoghurt is a little sour can we still use it to make gulab jamuns..? Also instead of clarified butter can we use unsalted butter or normal vegetable oil..? thanks..
December 21st, 2007 at 1:39 pm
You can use a ‘little sour’ yogurt but if it is really sour, I would not as it would alter the taste.
Regarding the Clarified butter…you can use either unsalted butter or oil, but given a choice, I’d pick unsalted butter over the Vegetable oil.
January 9th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Hi Anuja/Hitel,
Thank you for your response to my earlier query. Can I use fat free milk powder for the gulab jamun recipe.
Jaya.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Dear Anuja and Hitel
Wonderful job thank you very much for the recipes. I made the jamuns this sunday did not come out that well, I guess I made a mistake in the consistency. Once you mix the dry ingredients, ghee and the yougurt what will be the consistency of the dough, will be too tight or little loose ?
Thank you for reply
January 29th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Hi Vidhya, I am sorry your gulab jamuns did not turn out well. Here are some tips -
-the dough needs to be on the soft, crumbly side.
-if you use the store bought yogurt, you might need to add a little milk.
-as mentioned in the video, make sure the oil heats up on low-to-med heat.
G’Luck!
February 20th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Hi!this is a wonderful website.i tried this recipe for gulabjamuns simply because milk powder as an ingredient made me curious.LOL.i think they did turn out well,except for 2 things.the balls were not smooth and still had cracks.secondly, the jamuns(in the middle) did not absorb the syrup even after being left for 2 hours in it. could you please let me have your opinion on same.i understand such recipes are difficult to master in first attempt itself and that it might take time and practice before one can attain perfection.thanks in advance and keep up the good work!
February 20th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Hi Aashita (BTW, beautiful name),
As you guessed Gulab Jamuns do take a little bit of practice…but at the end of the road, they are well worth it. Here are a couple of tips:
1. The dough is a little on the crumbly side…so use a little oil on your hands and make the ball and flatten it out and then roll it to a ball…this will help smoothening out the cracks.
2. If the middle did not absorb the syrup…then it is an oil heating up issue…that is what we kept mentioning in the video…it is the “most important” thing to making good Gulab Jamun. Next time heat the oil at a lower temp and have patience and allow it to heat up.
Next time they will be perfect - my predictions!
February 29th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
thank you for all the recepies
April 11th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
What degree F should the oil be? Thank you for your wonderful clear teaching. I am having a great time learning about Indian cuisine.
Namaste
April 11th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
I think you two would make a great show on The Food Channel. Here is the info to submit an idea for that network:
SHOW IDEAS
1. I have an idea for a new Food Network Show. Where Should I send it?
Food Network appreciates your interest in suggesting ideas, but we accept series and specials proposals only from television production companies with national or major market production credentials. If you are a production company, please send us your credentials and a history of your production experience only. After reviewing them, Food Network will determine whether or not to send you a release form with a request for further information.
Do not send any pitch ideas or proposals at this time, as they will be returned unread.
Please send your company’s credentials to:
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attention: Submissions
April 15th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Hi,
Nice recipe. I was wondereing if we could use baking Powder or Soda Bicarbonate instead of Baking soda?
Regards.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Angelica,
Soda Bicarbonate is the chemical name for Baking Soda. So you can use that but Baking Powder is different and cannot be substituted.
April 27th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Great recipe!!! So easy to make. Me and my wife had a great dinner with your sweet Gulab Jamun. Thanks!
April 30th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Hi anuja,
I made the gulab jamun for the 2nd time, there is still going somethin wrong, dont know what.
When i fry them they get a bit chrunch, and when i put them in the syrupe, they become very soft and became like pudding and very weak. I have baked the gulab jamun one low heat!
What have i done wrong?
Thanks!
May 1st, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Hi Sabrina:
The Gulab Jamuns are to be deep fried. I really don’t know if baking will work.
What kind of yogurt are you using…home made or store bought? The store bought tends to be a lot more thick and in that case you will need to use a little bit of milk when kneading.
May 1st, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Hi anuja,
Thanks for your reply!
i have deep fried them on low heat. But when i dip them in the syrup they become tooo soft and just break, so what i left is a kind of pudding.
Yes i used store bought yoghurtm, it was a thick one. So its better to use 1 tbl yoghurt and use milk??
Best regards,
Sabreena
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:49 am
Sabrina,
It has got to be the yogurt’s fault and yes, try the combination of milk and yogurt.
The only other question would be…did you by mistake use baking powder instead of baking soda? That is the only other thing I can think of…
Anuja
May 11th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
hi i just adore ghulab jamuns and tried out your recipe. unfortunately the sugar syrup hardens when i insert the jamuns, before they soak in the syrup. help am really upset…:(
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:03 am
Thank you very much for the recipe. I always wondered how you make them.
I was wondering what is the surviving size for the portions mentioned?
Thank you!
May 27th, 2008 at 9:28 am
hi hitel and anushia i was wondering if i could make the syrup with out the cardamon powder and saffron but with the rose essence
May 27th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Yes, you can use rose essence and skip the saffron and cardamom powder.
==================
Shraddha:
This recipe makes about 10-15 Gulab Jamuns (depending on the size that you roll out). Usually 2-3 are served per person.
June 1st, 2008 at 10:49 pm
This is the best gulab jamun recipe that I’ve found. It was foolproof! Came out great and everybody loved them. I’ll be making again soon. Thanks!
BTW, the Desi yogurt from Indian grocers works the best.
June 5th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Hi Anuja& Hetal
Thanx a lot for this receipe, gulab jamuns r my husbands all time fav ,i was really amazed that it was so easy to prepare and it tasted wonderful.I wonder why its been rated a single star,according to me “5 Full STARS”.
I want to also compliment the person with the camera.All of u “Keep up the Good Work”.
shilpa
June 5th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Maybe the person that is getting mushy gulab jamuns isn’t frying them long enough. That is the problem my friend had. She got confused because some directions say golden brown, but they should be a deep brown. Also, sugar water shouldn’t get hard if you put them in while boiling. It will get think after it is off the heat.
June 20th, 2008 at 4:24 am
Hi,
These came out perfectly the first time I made them. The last 2 times I’ve made them they have not been as good. They are more hollow in the inside. I used different baking soda, so do you think that could be the problem? Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Sara
July 18th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
hi hetal and anuja.ur recipes r too good.i just wana ask u that what if we use bisquick pan cake mix instead of all purpose flour is it ok?
and one more thing that i heard many people make gu;ab jamuns from nanak khoya.but dont know how?if u know plzz teach
thanx
July 31st, 2008 at 1:34 am
hi, which milk powder taste better for the gulab jamuns the american store fat free milk powder or the indian store bought milk powder( please mention the brand name what you use)
thank you if you could please reply.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:12 am
Hi Leela,
We have used Carnation brand on fat free milk powder that can be bought at any American grocery store. At times we have also used the store brand and it works just as well.
Hope that helps.
September 7th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Hi people
I Have ben trying making gulab jamuns and first they came put hard as rock but slowly slowy i improved and it is supereb soft+more yummy day by day
thank you very much for this recipee it has made my chef life lol
lots of love
xx @R$H xx
September 20th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
i do not have milk powder, what can i use instead? what is the full name of the one you used? and what company is it?
September 20th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
hi is all purpose flour another name for plain flour?
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
hi ur recipe was exellent! they look so yummy
September 26th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Hi,
Awesome Receipe; I have a 22 month old son and I had some Enfamil milk pwd left in the fridge for almost 6 months and i tried it out for the gulab jamun and GREAT!!!!!! the jamuns was so good and my little son who does not like eating sweet dishes kept on eating the gulab jamuns. Thanks for the wonderful receipe.