Gulab Jamun
India's festival sweet for Diwali and weddings — soft milk-dough balls fried slowly to a deep brown and soaked in warm syrup scented with cardamom, rose water and saffron. Low, gentle frying cooks them through without cracking.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 120 g milk powder
- 30 g plain flour
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tbsp ghee, melted, plus extra for your hands
- 60 ml whole milk, warm
- 500 ml sunflower oil, for frying
- 300 g caster sugar
- 350 ml water
- 4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
- 1 pinch saffron threads
- 1 tsp rose water
- 1 tbsp pistachios, finely chopped
Nutrition (estimated)
medium confidenceRecipe total: 5953 kcal · P 15.9g · C 361.7g · F 507.7g
Estimated from 12 of 12 ingredients
Approximate estimate, calculated from the ingredients.
Video
Steps
Steps
- 1For the syrup, simmer the sugar, water, cardamom and saffron for 5–6 minutes, until slightly sticky but not thick. Take off the heat, stir in the rose water and keep warm.
- 2Mix the milk powder, flour and bicarbonate of soda, rub in the melted ghee, then add the warm milk a little at a time and gather into a soft, smooth dough without kneading. Rest for 10 minutes.
- 3With palms lightly greased with ghee, roll the dough into 16 small balls, perfectly smooth and free of cracks; a crack splits open in the oil.
- 4Heat the oil in a wide pan over low heat to about 140°C; a pinch of dough should rise slowly with small bubbles.
- 5Fry the balls in batches for 7–8 minutes, stirring the oil gently so they roll and colour evenly, until deep reddish-brown all over.
- 6Drain briefly and drop the hot balls straight into the warm syrup. Soak for at least 1 hour; they swell to almost double.
- 7Serve warm or at room temperature with a little syrup, scattered with the pistachios.
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Questions and answers
How long does Gulab Jamun take to make?
About 60 minutes: 20 min prep and 40 min cooking.
What ingredients do you need for Gulab Jamun?
12 ingredients: milk powder, plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, ghee, whole milk, sunflower oil, caster sugar, water, green cardamom pods, saffron threads, rose water, pistachios.
How many servings does this Gulab Jamun recipe make?
8 servings. The servings buttons above the ingredients rescale every amount.
How many calories are in a serving of Gulab Jamun?
About 744 kcal, with 2 g protein, 45.2 g carbohydrate and 63.5 g fat. This is an estimate from the ingredients, not a lab analysis.
Which diets does this Gulab Jamun recipe suit?
It is vegetarian.
What cuisine is Gulab Jamun?
Gulab Jamun comes from Indian cuisine.
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