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A hand holding a dry gulab jamun coated in coconut flakes

Dry Gulab Jamun

Shri Repp
Dry gulab jamuns are the perfect one-bite Indian dessert for your holiday dessert box. This fried milk ball is briefly soaked in a sweet syrup and then coated with confections like coconut flakes and crushed nuts.
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Cook Time 45 minutes
Course Dessert
Servings 15

Ingredients
 

Dough Ingredients

  • ½ cup (50 g) whole milk powder (Refer to Note 1 about sourcing milk powder)
  • ⅓ cup (50 g) all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon ghee or butter melted, plus more to grease your hands
  • ⅓ cup (75 g) heavy cream

Syrup Ingredients

  • 1 cups sugar
  • 1.25 cups water
  • 1-2 cardamom pods lightly crushed
  • 5-10 saffron strands
  • ¼ teaspoon rose water (Optional)
  • ½ teaspoon lemon juice

Coating

  • ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes or finely crushed pistachios

Frying Ingredients

  • vegetable oil - enough to fill pot 3 inches deep for frying
  • ¼ cup ghee (this helps add flavor to the oil) to add to fry oil for flavor (Optional)

Instructions
 

  1. Note before starting: If you have a scale, this recipe benefits from measuring out everything in grams! Different types of milk powder can have different volume measurements (note 1 explains more).
  2. In a large bowl, ½ cup whole milk powder , ⅓ cup all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon baking powder, and ⅛ teaspoon sea salt and mix until all the dry ingredients are combined.
  3. Add in 1 tablespoon ghee or butter and rub it into the dry mixture to form a slightly coarse texture. This step to ensures that the dry mixture is coated in fat and will result in a tender jamun.
  4. Add in ⅓ cup heavy cream to the dry mixture and knead for 1-2 minutes to form a supple dough that has no dry spots and feels like play dough. Do not over knead or else the jamuns will be chewy. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.If the dough feels tacky, then add 1 teaspoon of flour until it is no longer sticky. If the dough feels hard or tough, then add 1 teaspoon of heavy cream until it feels soft like play dough.
  5. Get a pot to prepare the gulab jamun syrup. Add 1 cups sugar, 1.25 cups water, 1-2 cardamom pods, and 5-10 saffron strands and place on the stove on medium heat. Allow the syrup to come to a boil and stir to ensure that all of the sugar dissolves. Turn the heat off, add ¼ teaspoon rose water and ½ teaspoon lemon juice, and mix. Keep the syrup on the stove as the gulab jamuns will be dunked into this syrup once fried.
  6. Uncover the gulab jamun dough that has been resting and divide into ~15 pieces that are approximately 10 grams each.
  7. Grease the palms of your hands with a bit of ghee.Take one piece of dough to work with while covering the others with the damp cloth. Using a little bit of pressure, roll the dough ball in between the center of your palms until a smooth, non-sticky, round ball is formed with no cracks. Set aside the ball under the damp cloth and repeat this process with the remaining dough while remembering to grease your hands as needed.
  8. Take a deep, heavy-bottomed pot for frying. Add ghee and enough oil to fill the pot ~3 inches deep. Heat the oil to 325° Fahrenheit. The oil can range between 325 and 350° Fahrenheit when frying.
  9. While you wait for the oil to warm up, check the temperature of the gulab jamun syrup. It should be warm, about 100 to 130° Fahrenheit. If not, turn the stove on low to warm the syrup up before turning off the heat.
  10. Once oil is hot enough, gently lower in gulab jamuns in batches into the oil with a metal slotted spoon. Constantly and gently rotate the gulab jamuns by creating small waves in the oil to ensure every side is cooked evenly without disturbing the balls. The gulab jamuns should take 3-4 minutes to completely cook and turn golden brown. Make sure the oil is not too hot as this will result in the outside browning before the inside is fully cooked and fluffy.
  11. Remove the gulab jamun with the slotted spoon and add them into the warm gulab jamun syrup. Using a different utensil, gently spoon some of the syrup to the top of the jamun to ensure the entire ball comes in contact with the syrup. Allow the gulab jamun to soak in the syrup for 15-20 minutes.
  12. Add ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes to a medium plate. Gently remove the gulab jamuns from the syrup using a slotted spoon and roll them in the coconut flakes. Eat as-is or pack in mini cupcake liners to hand out in.
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Notes and Tips

  • (Note 1) Use whole milk powder and NOT low-fat milk powder for a tender and tasty jamun. If you only have low-fat milk powder then add an additional tablespoon of ghee to the dough. In addition, low-fat milk powder absorbs more liquid so you may have to add heavy cream in increments of 1 teaspoon until the dough is tender and supple. Some Indian milk powder brands are much more coarse than American brands so always use gram measurements. Indian milk powder is much coarser and 50g measures out to be closer to ¾ cup whereas 50g of American milk powder measures out to be ½ cup. Since American milk powder is more fine with a larger surface area, it absorbs more liquid and thus requires more heavy cream.
  • If you are looking for detailed tips and tricks or are looking for solutions to common gulab jamun mistakes, then check out this blog post.
  • If you have extra gulab jamun syrup, don’t throw it out! Filter it if needed and use it in cocktails or mocktails and as a syrup for pancakes/waffles. You can check out this blog post for more ideas on how to use the syrup.
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