Deepavali with Gulab Jamuns

Deepavali around,Srivalli intended that the members of the Indian Cooking Challenge try making gulab jamuns the traditional way. A sweet indulgence indeed befitting the season. Three choice recipes were found from other blogsites to try whichever suited you. To me, all three were enticing. But with deepavali and loads other 'must try this season/ must make every deepavali' on my list, I gave two of them a try and both were just as excellent, can't choose between the two.

I have tried this recipe from Alka of Sindhi rasoi, making the mawa at home, as posted earlier.

The next was from The Yum Blog where Lakshmi had posted her paati's Gulab(less) jamuns.

Both yielded 25 - 30 jamuns depending on the size of the balls I shaped.

They were PURE DIVINELY INDULGENCE!!!! I'm trying new adjectives to add to the already existing, delicious, yummy, succulent and more!

I have followed the recipes and their tips below just as in their posts...no side-tracking, none of my, otherwise altering recipes, style, but for frying the jamuns in ghee, as I was not happy to make sweets with the oil I buy here. You may find the making of khova in my earlier post.

Gulab Jamuns from THE YUM blog
Makes: around 25 jamuns

Ingredients:

Khova – 11/2 cups/ 1 recipe

Maida – 1 cup

Sugar – 3 cups (if you want excess syrup i.e floating jamuns increase by a cup)

Water – 1 cup (increase if you’re increasing sugar)

Cooking Soda – 3 pinches

Cardamom – 4 pods

Saffron leaves – a few

Oil – 1 cup (for deep frying)

Method:

1. Combine sugar and water in a flat bottomed broad pan and simmer on a low heat until sugar dissolves. Add cardamom powder and saffron leaves and remove from fire.

2. Knead khova, maida and soda and quickly shape into balls.

3. Heat oil on a medium flame. Fry the jamuns till golden brown over a low to medium flame, keeping oil temperature uniform. Oil should not smoke.

4. Drain the jamuns and soak in the warm sugar syrup.Serve the jamuns after half an hour.

Tips:

You will achieve correct consistency for jamun syrup when 3 cups of sugar dissolves 1 cup water over low heat.Only when the syrup is ready, mix the jamun dough. Since the dough has soda, if its kept aside the jamuns will disperse while frying and will not hold well.

Right temperature of oil of utmost importance to get soft jamuns.

Never refrigerate jamuns. Jamuns when refrigerated will shrink and become hard.

Jamuns will stay fresh for 4 days when stored in air tight containers.

If you like you can add two drops of rose essence to the syrup to make it Gulab jamun

GULAB JAMUN from ALKA of SINDHI RASOI
The recipe is divided in two parts, one is making the Jamuns and frying them.

The other is making sugar syrup.

For sugar syrup:

Ingredients:

Sugar - 500 gms (This can be reduced as per taste)

Water - 1 & 1/2 cup (bit more or less)

Cardamom - 2-3

One spoon of milk (optional)

Few threads of saffron (optional)

2-3 drops of rosewater (optional but highly recommended)

Method:

Mix about 500 gms of white sugar in one and half cup water and keep it for boiling.

Add a spoonful of milk to remove the impurities (impurities if any, will form a scum on surface)Add 2-3 green cardamoms also in syrup for strong flavor, and a tad of saffron strings (optional).

Boil until you get just a tad sticky syrup.

Gulab Jamun syrup is not very dense nor too dilute as in Rasgulla.

Strain the syrup, add rosewater when syrup is slightly cooled.

Always remember two things while using rose water, do not add it while syrup is bubbling hot or on fire, and be particular about the quantity mentioned in every recipe, since even few drops of excess rosewater could lend a bitter taste to the final product.

For Gulab Jamun:

Ingredients:

Unsweetened Maawa* - 250 gms (Boiling 6 cups/1&1/2 litres of milk and reducing it will yield 250grams of Maawa)

All purpose flour - 1 & 1/2 - 2 tsp

Cornflour - 1 tsp

Green cardamom - 1-2 crushed

Oil for shallow frying

* (khoya-the condensed milk thickened till it turns into moist dough, preferably made from cow’s milk, also known as Hariyali mawa)

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a wide mixing bowl until soft textured dough is obtained (keep mixing until it is really soft)

Make very small sized balls (bit larger than pebbles) as they swell up after frying and soaking in syrup.

Make sure that the surface of dough balls is really smooth without any cracks.

In case the cracks refuse to go away, slightly wet your palms with water and roll the flour till absolutely smooth.

Now take little oil for frying in preferably flat bottomed pan, and heat the oil.

But gulab jamuns are to be fried on LOW FLAME or else the surface will be browned while the core will remain uncooked.

Some prefer to place an unsalted pistachio in the center of every gulab jamun while making balls, that way the core of gulab jamun is not left uncooked.

Fry one or 2 gulab jamuns at a time and always remember to STIR THE OIL with slotted spoon AND NOT TO TOUCH GULABJAMUNS, which means keep swirling the oil without tossing or turning gulab jamun.

Fry till light brown in colour, remove on tissue paper and repeat the procedure with rest of dough.

Now soak these in COOL syrup for few hours.

They will surely swell up.

These can be stored in the same syrup till consumed.

If there are cracks in the balls before frying it will burst open while frying, in that case adding a bit of cornflour will surely help.

You can enjoy it hot or cold ,either way it is delicious.
Now that you have two recipes, I am sure you will enjoy making gulab jamuns from scratch at home.

I am told that when my husband was a kid, every deepavali my mother-in-law used to make gulab jamuns using store bought khova. She does not any longer owing to poor health. My husband was never tired of reminiscing this whenever I made gulab jamuns with GITS/MTR or whichever ready mix. I have a good workable recipe which my mother used. But was always putting it off for another time. Now that the challenge was posted and having given the recipes a try, with much success to point out, I am sure to try again and satisfy his cravings for his mom's cooking!