I was asked by one of my readers share the recipe for gulab jamun before diwali so I hope that I’m not too late with this post. I believe most of you must already have started preparing for the festival by decking up your houses and yards with bulbs, lanterns and other illuminations. The list of mithais must have been decided upon days ahead to shop for the necessary ingredients; I should not forget to mention the cute little cardboard boxes in which the sweets would be packed and distributed.
Gulab jamun does not feature among the sweets I plan to make this diwali but as it is a simple recipe and very much in demand, I felt it was worth posting on the blog this week. Our local gulab jamun differs from the original in both shape and consistency. The one thing they have in common, however, is that once deep fried, they are both dipped in a light rosewater flavoured sugar syrup. Be careful not to leave them for too long in the syrup else they will turn soggy and overly sweet.
My guess is that gulab jamun became a popular diwali sweet as large quantities can be prepared days in advance. Give it a try along with the regulars – gato batate and boondi laddoo – for this year’s diwali and remember that homemade never fails to impress!
GULAB JAMUN
Ingredients:
For the Dough
500 g all purpose flour
3 tsp pure ghee
200 g condensed milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tbs powdered milk
1/4 tsp cardamom
For the Sugar Syrup
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup water
1/4 tsp rosewater extract
Method:
-
Combine all dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl to form a soft dough. Cover and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
-
Meanwhile prepare sugar syrup by dissolving sugar in equal anoumts of water. Add rosewater extract.
-
Simmer over low heat until syrup develops a single thread consistency. Remove from heat.
-
Shape the dough into finger-long sausages and deep fry over low heat until they turn brown in colour.
-
Drain well on absorbent paper before dipping in warm sugar syrup for not more than a minute.
-
Bring to room temperature before seving. Store in an airtight container for upto 2 weeks.
36 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 26, 2011 at 9:59 pm
A Box of Sweets « Heaven on a Spoon
[…] I wish all of you a very happy diwali and I’m pretty sure you must be having great fun with mithais, gifts, new clothes and crackers. For diwali, I do not choose to be innovative; in my opinion, it is best to stick to tried-and-tested recipes when cooking is done for a crowd. This year, my sweet box was filled with Gato Batate, Boondi Laddoo, Milk Burfi, Napolitaine, Khaja and Gulab Jamun. […]
October 31, 2011 at 3:03 am
Jays
Hello Prerna,
You are really helping to make my family happy with your recipe. I am looking for achard tamarin recipe. Could you please help?
August 9, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Mauritian Rasgulla – The Dark One « Heaven on a Spoon
[…] the Mauritian version, albeit a corrupted copy of the Indian gulab jamun. As for the Mauritian gulab jamun, well, that’s an entirely different […]
November 8, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Diwali – Moricienneries Style [Guest Post] « Heaven on a Spoon
[…] 2. [Mauritian] Gulab Jamun – Shaped like a small sausage, it is [again] deep fried and dipped in sugar syrup. Can be stored for days but you may find yourself with empty containers mere hours after you carefully packed everything for distribution […]
July 20, 2013 at 1:26 am
Karuna
Hi Prerna,
Hope you are fine . Once again am very glad I tried your Mauritian style gulab Jamuns , my guests are extremely happy here in Canada . I doubled the qty of the recipe and got 105 nice gulab Jamuns . I referred them all to your blog.
Thanks to you I now cook one more delicious mtian dessert .
All the very best and can’t wait to find wat next am trying from your blog,
Cheers
July 20, 2013 at 7:33 am
prerrnamirchi
thnks for the feedback karuna! this week I’ve been experimenting with tossé, the traditional rice pancake, and I hope to post it on the blog as soon as I produce edible results in my kitchen 🙂
September 17, 2013 at 9:46 am
Ayesha
hello,
I am planning to try your delicious gulab jamun but am a bit confused. Is the castor sugar,water n rosewater for the dough or syrup?
September 18, 2013 at 7:22 pm
prerrnamirchi
hello Ayesha, the sugar, water and rosewater are for the syrup, have edited the recipe to clear the confusion, thank you for pointing it out.
November 2, 2013 at 7:48 pm
Diwali 2013 – Khaja/ Indian Mille-Feuille | Heaven on a Spoon
[…] preparing Indian sweets/mithais. Once again we went for the classics: Besan/Boondi Laddoo, Gulab Jamun, Barfi, Nankhatai, Gato Coco, Gato Patate, Napolitaine and […]
December 6, 2013 at 9:33 am
yusra
hello
do we have to add water to the dough when mixing or only condensed milk
December 7, 2013 at 11:34 pm
prerrnamirchi
hi yusra you can diluted the condensed milk with 1-2 tablespoons water if you wish
June 29, 2014 at 7:21 am
yusra
hello
in your picture for the gulab jamun ,there is sugar in the bowl along with the ghee
but in your recipe for the dough there is no sugar
July 1, 2014 at 12:02 pm
prerrnamirchi
Yeah I omitted the sugar in the recipe because it was too sweet along with condensed milk but if you like the added sweetness feel free to add another couple of tablespoons to the dough.
July 10, 2014 at 2:59 pm
yusra
hello do we have to add water for this dough , planning to prepare this for eid
July 16, 2014 at 3:41 pm
prerrnamirchi
hi yusra, you can add a little bit of water when you empty out the condensed milk, about 1-2 teaspoons.
October 20, 2014 at 9:41 am
Pratima
Your recipe is not correct… How can you mix 500g flour with only 200g of condensed milk? I’ve tried it but it did not work
April 22, 2015 at 8:20 pm
Nabiilah
Also did not work for me. I used 4 cups of flour (500g) and half a can of 300ml condensed milk (200g). Was my conversion not good? The dough just remained powdery. I tried adding the rest of the condensed milk, and even a little bit of water, but the whole mixture remained powdery and dry still !!
May 3, 2015 at 7:17 pm
prerrnamirchi
sorry dr I dnt know what went wrong. Will try to recheck the measurements and let u know.
November 22, 2020 at 6:09 pm
Karuna
Because 500g of flours is not 4 cups
October 11, 2016 at 8:10 pm
Kadija Vawda
Start with condensed milk ghee n the rest of the ingredients then add flour as needed to make a fair dough. Neither too soft nor too hard. Once the dough is made, roll out gulab jamuns almost immediately cos the consistency changes n may become difficult to roll out if left for too long..Once it’s rolled cover with slightly dampened cloth if not frying immediately.
Hope this helps.
October 16, 2016 at 8:24 pm
prerrnamirchi
Thank you Kadija
November 22, 2020 at 6:21 pm
Karuna
This is what I have been doing too, I empty the condensed milk add Evrything including the baking soda and elaiti , I give it a good mix or rinse the condensed milk containers with 2-3 tbs of water , then mix the flour until the desired or recommended dough consistency has been reached . This recipe is the best I have in my recipe book , always comes out great 👍🏼
October 26, 2014 at 4:01 pm
Rabeena
hello.thx for the recipe.i would like to know if baking soda is the same thing as baking powder.
October 28, 2014 at 2:57 pm
prerrnamirchi
nooo definitely not the same.. read abt the differences here: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/the_difference_between_baking_soda_and_baking_powder/
November 10, 2014 at 12:58 pm
pamela geoffroy
salut ,jaime bien votre site ,tres interessant,jadore ,merciiii,je cherche la recette de biscuit champagne! svp si cest possible,jaurais bien aimer essayer,merci davance, banne recette la trop top my dear,bonne continuation,thanks
November 10, 2014 at 8:16 pm
prerrnamirchi
yup recipe for biscuit champagne is right here: https://inspiredtobake.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/getting-into-the-festive-mood-with-butter-cookies/
September 19, 2015 at 1:01 pm
Sabrina
Hi I have followed your recipe but it is still crumbly and loose. I have added a few spoons of water but it is still the same. What can I add to get the mixture to resemble the gulab jamun fingers in your picture please?
September 26, 2015 at 8:20 pm
prerrnamirchi
hi Sabrina maybe u can get the dough to bind together with some ghee
November 10, 2015 at 11:37 am
Hansa
May be your ghee qty should be tbs instead of tsp. Could u check it prerrna?
November 12, 2015 at 4:57 pm
prerrnamirchi
maybe it should be in tablespoons, cnt remember.. sorry 😦
November 10, 2015 at 11:38 am
Hansa
Same powdery issue.
April 16, 2017 at 10:37 pm
Lakshi Emerit
Hi!Is there any substitute for the powdered milk as only liquid milk is available where I stay.
April 18, 2017 at 5:02 pm
prerrnamirchi
Sorry Lakshi, I dnt know any replacement for milk powder. maybe you can try it with ricotta hung in a cheesecloth to remove moisture.
October 27, 2019 at 1:36 pm
Charmaine..
Hello…I think your flour to the condensed milk doesn’t really add up…It’s way too much flour… 500g of flour is equal to 4 cups of flour..therefore you need to reduce flour by half of your recipe…I hope you can reconstruct your recipe..thanks Charmaine
October 27, 2019 at 1:49 pm
Charmaine
Hello …just a correction on your recipe…500g of flour is way too much for a can of condensed milk… you need to revise your recipe thanks..
November 13, 2020 at 6:18 pm
Prabha Virah Sammy
Made those today. Syrup ran out! Ha. Ha. But looks really good.