anvi

You are right-Kj's are dark in colour,almost like chocolate,often have a dusting of dessicated coconut.If I remember correctly,they are kind of dry,not dipped in syrup like GJ's are.Also they have more body and are not as soft as Gulabjamuns are...kind of like the bengali chamcham.The addition of paneer in KJ may result in the more chewy and dense texture as compared to GJ. I am sorry if I have made a big issue out of this,maybe I should have read your initial post more carefully and not made any blanket statements.

I apologise for that..and yes one can make gulab jamuns with paneer,milkpowder-somewhere else i saw recipes calling for bread and sweetpotoato gulab jamuns too.I would call them variations of the basic gulabjamun recipe which is khoya based.

Well,for the tens of Indian websites that have paneer based recipes,there are pages and pages of Indian and other websites which have the milkpowder/heavy cream recipes.Does that mean that the powdered milk is 'THE' ingredient for gulab jamun?I will still say that Paneer is 'not an ingredient across the board' in all gulab jamun recipes as you have mentioned elsewhere in this thread. And as far as setting all the websites,indian grocers etc straight, is concerned..than maybe I should go and set straight the entire generations of women in my family,my extended family,the various aunts,uncles,the huge number of people in my neighbourhood,town,and other places that I know of- who have always lived in India- that gulab jamuns have to be made with paneer and khoya and not just khoya with a little flour,suji added as binders. Maybe someone can enlighten me as to what kala jamun is and how it is differs from gulabjamun? I am no authority on Gulabjamuns,but i refuse to accept that gulabjamuns have to be made with paneer and khoya..even if tens of websites claim that.

Gulab jamun is traditionally made with 'Khoya' which is milk boiled down to a solid mass.Paneer and khoya are mixed together to make Kala jaam or kaala Jamun and not gulab jamun. I gave the recipe with milk powder because khoya is not easily available at most Indian groceries and making it at home is very tedious.The khoya gulab jamuns are the best, however the ones made with this recipe that i have given are very good too.One should use the full fat milk powder for a great taste. My mother makes gulab jamuns with khoya and till about 5,6 years ago I had never ever tasted the powdered milk ones.Inorder to make the khoya ones you need to knead the khoya until soft and all the granules are gone.To about 1 kg of khoya she used to add 250 gms of semolina.The semolina would be soaked in just about enough milk to cover it,until all the milk was absorbed and there was no wetness remaining.this was added to the khoya and kneaded well again.Make small balls and deep fry.

You could try one of the instant packets that are available at Indian grocery stores-'Gits' is a very commonly used brand with pretty ok results. If however you want to make them from scratch than heres a recipe: 2 cups milk powder- can use milk mawa powder from Indian groceries,or Nestle's 'Nido'. 1 cup All purpose flour 1/2 tsp baking powder heavy cream-as much as needed to make dough mix together the dry ingredients.Add heavy cream and knead to get a soft dough. this dough will approximately make 35 to 40 balls.break off small sections of the dough and roll into smooth balls. Take vegetable oil in a wok and deep fry the balls a few at a time on medium heat until a nice golden brown. In another pan take about 3 cups of sugar,add 3 to 4 cups of water and bring to a boil.Continue to boil until you get a slightly thick sugar syrup.Add some powdered cardamom for flavour.Allow the deep fried balls to soak in this syrup for atleast 12 hours. Serve warm or chilled.

OOthapam, what is the wattage of you KA? Thanks Anvi

Hi, I was planning to try these cupcakes but than i noticed that there were no eggs in the recipe for the cupcakes.there are eggs in the filling but not in the cakes itself.Is this OK? i know you guys are all experts ,so please pardon me for the dumb question!! ← Ruth, Could you please let me know if this recipe calls for eggs ?i did not see any eggs being used for the cupcakes and have been wondering ever since.I did not get my query resolved earlier and am hoping that you will be able to help me here. I wanted to try these but did not do so on acct of the egg question and did not want to end up with a failure.Once again,i am a baking novice,so please pardon my dumb question Anvi

Jmahl, thanks for the response.I would be using the KA for home use,mainly dough ,about 2,3 cups of whole wheat flour .I am very reassured by the fact that you have been using it for 28 years.I have often been tempted to buy the 250 watt KA -so maybe now i can go ahead and get it. BBhasin, The asia kitchen machine sounds good too and it sprice would be comparable to a 250 watt KA.however i have never made much use of the processor i had except for dough..so i am more inclined to the KA and have my blender tackle the other tasks around the kicthen.

Lots of my friends swear by the Kitchen Aid stand mixer in order to make chapati,poori dough.I would like to know all of your views/opinion about it.I have been told that one must buy atleast a 300 watt mixer if it is to be mainly used for dough.I did have a food processor which i used for making dough but it gave out pretty soon.It was very convinient though.Do help me here as i am sorely tempted to buy one.How far is it useful in everyday Indian cooking,apart from making dough. Thanks A

I make tea all the time and my ratio usually is half cup of water to every cup of milk.I make it entirely with skim milk too.In any case there is always a little scum/residue sticking to the pot -more in case of a nonstick one as compared to a stainless steel one.It is however not much of a pain to clean,you can just run some hot water in the pot and leave it to soak for a while.it usally takes just a little scrubbing,to get it off.alternatively you could spread some diswasher gel like cascade and let it soak for a while and than scrub it off.Its not all that hard to get off at all.All this holds true for a stainless steel pot,I have totally given up on heating milk in a nonstick pan . You could try heating your milk in a microwave and adding it at the end,but i guess bringing the whole thing to a boil in one pan is what gives chai its special flavour! And by the way,i have never had a sip of chai in my life-but i do make it for my husband and other family members.

Anzu, The only reason why the GulabJamun lasted so long was because they were frozen and not in the syrup.It takes atleast a day for the syrup to properly soak through,so there was no impulse eating.I can totally identify with your husband's sweet tooth.I too am like that and there is no chance what so ever of any mithai lasting around my house for more than a couple of days. For the kaddu sabzee,you chop Acorn squash into about an inch and a half dices.while doing the tadka ,add hing,methi seeds,green chillies, haldi and jeera.Add the kaddu,cover and cook until a little soft-about 3/4th done.Than add chopped raw mango, quantity is based on how sour you want the sabzee to be.in absence of mango ,one can add amchur,some people add tamarind too.Some recipes call for a little sugar,but i prefer mine without the sweetness of sugar.cook further until the mango is softened.Mash it a bit and you are all done.

A Happy Diwali to every one. I ended up making Kaddu ki sabzi,Arbi,Alu-gobhi and chole.Also made puri and sooji Halwa.I could not make kheer,cos by the time i got done with all this,it was almost lunch time and i just did not want to be in the kitchen any longer. For lakshmi pooja in the evening ,i made coconut laddu's with sweetened condensed milk and Gulab jamun.The Gulab Jamun incidentally were made in India by my mom in August.She gave me a box of fried balls,without putting them in the syrup.I have had them in the freezer all this while.I thawed them in the microwave and then left them overnight in sugar syrup.They turned out very well indeed.I love my Mom's Gulab Jamuns and this way i can enjoy them even when i am here in the U.S I am very intrigued by the paneer and Guvar combination.I have never had it before.I make arbi almost the same way,except that after boiling ,peeling and cutting into pieces,i sprinkle roasted besan,coriander powder,redchilli powder,garam masala,salt,haldi,amchur on them.Then i heat oil ,add ajwain and heeng and than put in the arbi pieces and let them cook until they are crisp. It tastes pretty good.I made the kaddu with Acorn squash,which i did not peel.It tastes great with raw mango,methi and green chilli's.

Diwali is on Tuesday ,November 1st.What is everyone cooking?Any special dishes-Mithai,namkeen etc? Diwali Lunch in my home always consists of Puri,Kachori(either urad dal,or potatoes),Alu-Gobhi,Bhindi,Boondi Raita,Rase vali Alu ki sabzee,Kheer,and sooji Halwa.All this is cooked without any onions and garlic.The tadka is a very simple hing and jeera,but still everything tastes just great. My mother always made tons of gujhiya,gulab jamuns,barfee,mathri,sev,chakri etc.I can never make all that stuff,but i try to make atleast a few things.So this year ,i plan to do gujiya,gulabjamun(from scratch-with mava),coconut laddu's and mathri. I would love to know what others are cooking up and how they will celebrate Diwali.

You could try using Cornmeal,which is a coarse kind of corn flour.I guess it will be difficult to roll out a roti with this dough,but if you roll it in between plastic sheets than it might be easy.

Hi, I was planning to try these cupcakes but than i noticed that there were no eggs in the recipe for the cupcakes.there are eggs in the filling but not in the cakes itself.Is this OK? i know you guys are all experts ,so please pardon me for the dumb question!!

Thanks Milagai,This does explain my question .Now,please tell me how you guys get around to making a smooth gravy with onion paste as a base.Do you chop/slice/grate the onions and than roast and then blend as opposed to putting it raw in the blender ?Or is there another solution.

liv4fud, thanks for the info.I had never thought about this.but then,why does the same thing not happen when i chop the onions or grate them? The root is still there.Also i remember microwaving the paste once to see if that would help,and the whole thing turned green..isnt that wierd? The best part is that for some wierd reason it doesnt happen now,it happened all the while a couple of years ago. so do not worry about being late with your response.Its just that i thought i might find an answer here,among all the highly informed folks.

Thanks for a fast response.I do add garlic cloves sometimes ,i have tried without too,but the paste is bitter as soon as i blend it.The wierd thing is,that when i chop them fine,or grate them,they dont turn bitter .Maybe they get over processed in the blender,which makes them bitter?But then, this did not happen earlier...when i was in India.Its only when i moved here to the U.S that this happened. Back home,I would put onions,garlic, ginger,at times whole spices and grind the lot in a blender with no resulting bitterness. I have noticed though, that it happens more with yellow onions than red.And also if i fry/roast the paste in a lot of oil ,until it gets properly brown than towards the end the bitterness is reduced.However if i donot roast it for a long time,than the resultant gravy is not fit to eat!

I wonder if any of you have had a similar experience.Often when i make a paste of onions in a blender,it gets very bitter.The first time this happened,i did not even realise it and proceeded to fry it in oil,add the usual masalas etc and made a gravy.But when we ate it,the gravy was positively bitter.After that,everytime i made the onion paste,i would first taste it raw and throw out the whole lot if it were bitter.All this was very wasteful,not to mention irritating.After that i started either grating the onions,or chopping them very fine and than proceeding to fry in oil,but when i needed a really smooth gravy,i had to put the whole thing in a blender after it was done or use my stick blender.The cleaning was painful,because the paste would be oily after having been roasted in oil.All in all very cumbersome! Of late ,this does not happen,and also if i process the onions in a food processor as opposed to a blender,it seems to help too. Wanted to know if any of you folks had encountered the same problem and if you have any solution for it. thanks

liv4fud, til-khoya laddus are great.i cannot tell you the exact amounts because like most home cooks,my recipes are not based on exact cup measurements. Take about a cup of Til,roast them in a pan until they release a slight aroma,and are just a shade of light brown. cool and coarsely grind them in a mixer. Add almost the same amount of khoya to the ground Til. Add sugar,i guess one would need to add about 2 cups ..i am sorry for not giving the exact amount,cos i usually taste as i go. Add some ground cardamom to the mix and roll into laddus. In case the mix is a liitle dry and cannot be shaped,than you sould add a sprinkling of milk or half and half inorder to make the laddus. They taste just great.i will try them again one of these days and than perhaps ,i will be able to give the exact proportions. About your other question,in India i believe khoya is made by reducing milk over heat until all the liquid evaporates and you are left with milk solids.you can do it at home too,but it takes a lot of time and continuous monitoring at the stove. Hence all the riccotta,condensed milk substitutions!

Hello, This is my first post here on eG,though i have been reading all the posts -esp here on the India board for quite some time. I too have my own make shift version of khoya which i usually resort to around Diwali when i make 'Gujiya'.I mix a stick of butter,a 16 ounce can of whole milk Riccotta,and a cup or so of dry milk powder.Heat the mix in a nonstick pan until fairly dry,and than when i am too lazt to keep stirring ,i pop it in the microwave until all the moisture is gone. you do need to stop and stir every couple of minutes while microwaving. The resultant khoya is pretty good.I have made Til laddu's with this(they are a North Indian speciality in the winters,also called Til Bhugga) and they are simply delicious. Hope this helps!