Easy Indian Gulab Jamun with Milk Powder
Milk Powder Nuggets Soaked in Rose Syrup
Posted By Savita
On special occasion of Holi, sharing with you some sweetness straight from Indian side of my Kitchen. :) Ready in no time, these fragrant rose syrup soaked milk powder nuggets, just melt in mouth!
Sweets and auspicious occasions go hand-in-hand in any family and so is in ours! Holi, the festival of colors, is widely celebrated all over India. It is the time of transition from Winters to Spring Season and celebrated in remembrance of Lord Krishna and Goddess Radha! I don't think anyone will be without colors all-over their face and mouth full of sweets today!
Especially for kids, this time is to enjoy lots of sweets and playtime with colors!
There is no Indian on earth (I think) who have never tasted Gulab Jamun! One of the quintessential Indian sweet, it often appears in dessert menu, festival or no festival. Ask me! my husband can have a dose of Gulab Jamun daily! It's just I keep my hands tight on sweets. Not just for dessert, often Gulab Jamun are also served for Tea Time to guests! Some Indian savory snacks, strong Black Chai Tea and bowl of warm Gulab Jamun with some syrup! yumm!!
Traditionally, Gulab Jamun are prepared by Indian Pastry Chefs (called Halwai) after cooking milk for a long time, low and slow until it thickens into a thick and creamy mass called mawa in hindi. Modern day's, quick version of mawa, is Milk Powder. Easy, handy, and the choice of people like me, who decide at last moment to make something for the occasion :)
When you eat comforting sweet like Gulab Jamun, it is bad manner to talk about diet. So friends, I'm not going to discuss that today ;)
I have still tried to lighten up these nuggets with hint of semolina and lite-sweet sugar syrup. If you like Gulab Jamun on very sweeter side, increase sugar a little more in syrup. Touch of rose water in syrup gives a beautiful fragrance to Gulab Jamun, but it is not mandatory.
Wish you all a Happy Holi!
Have fun!
~Savita
Here are some more sweet treats for Holi!
Ingredients
- Gulab Jamun
- 2 Cup Powdered Milk (*please refer notes)
- 6-8 tbsp Milk (few tbsp more or less, dough should be smooth)
- 1 tbsp Canola Oil (or ghee, for dough, plus more for frying)
- Pistachio (crushed, for garnish)
- 1 tbsp Unsalted Butter (or use Ghee - Clarified Butter)
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tbsp All-Purpose Flour (maida)
- 2 tbsp Semolina (fine, soaked in milk for 10 minutes)
- Rose Syrup
- 1/2 tsp Rose Water
- 1.5 Cup Sugar
- 2 Cup Water
- 1 tsp Lime (juice)
Directions
-
1. Soak semolina with 3 tbsp water (or milk) and set aside. In a sauce pan, combine sugar and water for rose syrup. Add lime juice. Heat until sugar has dissolved, boil for 3 minutes. Then mix in rose water and set aside. -
2. In a wide bowl, take powdered milk, add in baking powder, mix well. Now, add cold butter diced in chunks (or ghee if using) and canola oil (or ghee if using). Rub with hands to distribute fat in milk powder. -
3. Now add soaked (suji) semolina and 1 tbsp maida (all purpose flour), and stir with hand to combine. -
4. Now add milk a little bit at a time until it makes smooth dough. Don't knead to make dough. Just use gentle pressure to bring everything together. Cover with kitchen towel and set aside for 10 minutes to rest. Additional Notes:
Dough should not be very dry not wet. -
5. Divide rested dough into 20 equal portions and arrange on a plate -
6. Now with clean hands (you can also oil hands if dough is sticky), roll each portion to make a smooth ball. Make sure it is smooth from all sides, no cracks visible. If dough sticks to hand, wash hand, wipe dry and repeat rolling again. -
7. Cover the rolled balls with kitchen towel. Heat oil for deep drying. Oil should not be very hot or jamun will be uncooked and doughy from inside. Additional Notes:
Test oil temperature by dropping a small dough ball in oil. It should come to top on count 5. If dough immediately comes to top or gets brown, oil is over heated. If dough stays at bottom more than 5 counts, it is not heated fully. -
8. It takes 8-10 minutes to cook one batch of Jamun. After first 4 minutes in oil, gulab jamun should not look brown at all. -
9. After 8-10 minutes gulab jamun will look brown. Now, these will be fully cooked from inside. (at this point, you can also crank-up the heat a bit, and brown them as much you like.) -
10. Remove the cooked jamun into a plate lined with paper towel. Repeat steps 7-9 to cook all. -
11. While rest of jamun are cooking, heat the syrup. Drop the cooked ones in syrup. Once all jamuns are in syrup, increase heat and bring syrup to boil. Then remove from heat. Transfer syrup with gulab jamuns to a deep dish. Soak all gulab jamun in syrup for at-least 25 minutes. -
12. Gulab Jamun are ready when soaked most of the liquid and look heavier than their size and are moist and spongy due to soaking sugar syrup. Serve topped with chopped pistachios and little bit of leftover syrup. Enjoy!
Savita's Recipe Notes:
*Milk Powder: Different brands of milk powders and different consistency (whole fat or lite) needs different amount of milk to make smooth dough. For recipe's initial post, I used 2 cups of lite milk. When using full fat, I use about 1.5 cups. You can adjust milk powder or add more milk until dough comes together, should not be dry or too wet too sticky. If dough gets too wet, leave aside for sometime until milk powder absorbs the liquid (milk).
1 cup milk powder lite = about 125 grams
1 cup milk powder whole = about 140 grams
Storage and Re-Heating Instructions: Gulab Jamun will stay good in refrigerator, in an-air-tight container for up-to 1 week. To reheat, microwave with syrup for 30 seconds. Or heat in a pan until syrup starts to bubble!
Lime/lemon juice in syrup helps to prevent caking of sugar syrup. Don't miss that!
Kitchen Hack If you ever end up making a too hard or dry gulab jamun batch. Never throw them away. Just microwave with syrup for 30 seconds and they will be as soft as they should be. Enjoy!
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