Gulab Jamun - Chef Recipe by Saurabh Prabhakar

Ingredients

Makes 10 jamun

1 cup sugar
3 cardamom pods
1 1/2 cups water
1-2 drops lemon juice
1/2 cup milk powder
1 Tbs plain flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 Tbs ghee
2-3 Tbs milk
Ghee for frying

Method

Sugar syrup:

Place sugar, cardamom pods, water and lemon juice in a deep pot or pan. The lemon juice is added to prevent syrup from solidifying when it cools.

Heat over medium heat until it reaches half string consistency, or turns a little sticky while stirring occasionally in between. It should take about 8-10 minutes.

When sugar syrup is ready, turn off heat.

Doughnuts:

Put milk powder, plain flour and baking soda into a wide mouthed bowl. Mix well with a spoon and then add ghee. Use your hand to mix so that the ghee is incorporated evenly with the milk powder.

Sprinkle milk over mixture and gently combine. If required add a few more teaspoons of milk, until the mixture is soft and it may be sticky. Don’t overmix or knead the mixture, as this will cause gluten to form, the jamun will turn dense and not absorb the sugar syrup properly.

Grease your palms with oil and divide mixture into marble sized small portions (around 9-10). Take each portion and make a round shaped crack free ball, if a crack appears it means the mixture is too dry. Add a few more drops of milk and remix if this happens. Don’t make the balls any bigger as they will almost double in size after deep frying and soaking in the syrup.

Heat the ghee for frying in a deep wok or a small pan over a medium heat. When oil is medium-hot, pinch a small portion of the mixture and drop it in the hot oil to test. If it comes straight up immediately without changing its colour, the oil is ready for deep frying; if it turns brown then the oil is too hot and needs to be cooled down, or if it doesn’t come up straight away the oil needs to be hotter.

Slowly drop 3-4 balls into the oil and reduce the heat to low. Gently stir with a slotted spoon and deep fry for 6-7 minutes until they turn golden brown. Transfer them over to a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
Maintain the temperature of the oil and deep fry the rest of the balls.

Heat the sugar syrup for 3-4 minutes and then add jamun balls. Leave them in the syrup for at least two hours prior to serving allowing them to absorb it properly.

Serve warm with ice cream or kulfi.

Recipe provided by Sapphire Indian Restaurant