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Monday, March 23, 2015

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I like sweets a lot,so when i got married  and have my own kitchen and no one to supervise :-) , i tried lot of sweets. At first, many turns out disaster. Even i felt guilty about wasting ingredients. So i browse about sweets most of the time, even when i found any new blog as interesting, first thing i would do is click their "sweet tag".

 To me, making any indian sweets is more difficult than baking. In baking, if you have good ingredients and followed the instructions carefully, mostly you got it correct at first time itself.But for most of the indian sweets,it requires lot of practice ,experience and patience.


My DH is totally opposite to me, he doesnt like sweets expect few.So whenever i made any sweets,he took one or two, and finally i end up in eating all that.So after getting some awareness about the calories in the sweet. i stopped making sweets(not completely :- ) ,but i reduced the frequency of making sweets)

 So for his birthday this year, i thought of making some sweets he likes, so i decided to make "Gulab Jamun", the one sweet he likes a lot and even he asks for more. I tried the jamun with store brought khoya before, we both liked it very much,But for this time I wanted to try this from scratch. so i prepared khoya first and then this gulab jamun. Will share the khoya recipe soon.

 I'm very much satisfied with the result.I love the color and texture of the jamuns.Though it seems like easy,there are lot of places you can go wrong. If you are going to try this jamuns,read the "Notes" section completely before starting. 

So enough with the stories , will look into the recipe.
Ingredients
For Jamun
Unsweeted Khoya - 2/3 cup
Maida/All purpose flour -  11/2 tbsp
Baking soda - A generous pinch
Water - To need the dough(approx 1 1/2 - 2 tbsp)

For Sugar Syrup
Sugar - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Cardamom - 1 crushed
Rose water - 1 drop
Orange food color - a pinch (optional)

 Sliced almonds - few for garnishing

Procedure

First add all the ingredients listed under "For Jamun" except water into bowl and add little by little water and form the dough and keep it aside for 10 mins. I missed to take the dough photos


In a sauce pan, add the sugar and water and bring it to boil for sugar syrup. Then add crushed cardamom and allow to boil until it become sticky. If you are using color, add it now.

 Then filter the sugar syrup in a wide bowl and add the rose water and keep it aside.



While making the sugar syrup , simultaneously , pinch a small amount khoya and roll into small balls and keep it aside. Then heat the oil for deep frying.


Once the oil is heated, add the balls, and rotate the oil with slotted spoon, it helps to achieve uniform coloring.At any point of point, the oil should not be smoky,so keep the flame in low.


Once it became deep brown, remove it and put it in tissue paper for few seconds.Then immediately put in sugar syrup.When i put first batch jamuns in sugar syrup, i liked the way jamuns arranged themselves like zigzag(top right)
Similarly, fry all the balls and put it in sugar syrup. Allow it to soak for atleast 2-3 hrs,before serving.


Yummy & Gorgeous looking Gulab Jamun is ready. Add sliced almonds while serving.

Notes:
  • Add the water carefully, it doesnt require much, 11/2 - 2 tbsp is enough if the khoya is freshly made
  • Dont knead the dough for long time, it makes the jamun rubbery , just gather everything together is enough
  • Dont put pressure while rolling the balls, it make the jamun hard and also the jamun become raw in center after frying.
  • Roll the ball as smooth as possible, if the ball cracks,apply ghee slightly in hand while rolling the ball, it helps to prevent the cracks.
  • Dont forget to add the baking soda, it helps to cook the jamun inside.
  • If you wish you can add saffron , instead of cardamom and also you can avoid the color.
  • My mom used to add the color and cardamom for flavor, i like that way from childhood onwards . so i prefer  cardamom over saffron flavor. But it's really upto your reference.
  • At any point of time, dont increase the flame while frying the jamuns, It should be in low flame. 
  • Rotate the oil with slotted spoon, it helps to get even coloring.



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