Wanted Recipe: Gulab Jamun

[NYC Mike]

We tried them, can't stop thinking about how good they were, and want to make them at home. Anyone have a good recipe?

Thanks,

-Mike

[anvi]

We tried them, can't stop thinking about how good they were, and want to make them at home.  Anyone have a good recipe?

Thanks,

-Mike

←

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.

[scott123]

Although, I've seen quite a few recipe for paneer-less gulab jamon like the one above, I've never come across the actual product, either in my Indian grocer or in restaurants. Paneer is an ingredient across the board. It could be a regional thing, though.

It might help to find out the ingredients of your favorite jamon and proceed from there.

Ideally, you should boil milk down to a semi-solid for gulab jamon, but, that's a lot of work. I think, though, that gulab jamon is as magnificent as it is because of the labor involved. You might be able to cheat a little and use evaporated milk, maybe... but I think powdered is pushing it. With the amount of processing milk goes through to become powdered, the taste just isn't suitable for a subtley flavored delicacy such as this.

Recently I have seen solid milk in the refrigerated section of my Indian grocer. If you can track that down, that would definitely work.

Edited July 27, 2006 by scott123 (log)

[anvi]

Although, I've seen quite a few recipe for paneer-less gulab jamon like the one above, I've never come across the actual product, either in my Indian grocer or in restaurants. Paneer is an ingredient across the board. It could be a regional thing, though.

It might help to find out the ingredients of your favorite jamon and proceed from there.

Ideally, you should boil milk down to a semi-solid for gulab jamon, but, that's a lot of work. I think, though, that gulab jamon is as magnificent as it is because of the labor involved. You might be able to cheat a little and use evaporated milk, maybe... but I think powdered is pushing it. With the amount of processing milk goes through to become powdered, the taste just isn't suitable for a subtley flavored delicacy such as this.

Recently I have seen solid milk in the refrigerated section of my Indian grocer. If you can track that down, that would definitely work.

←

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.

[scott123]

No paneer in Gulab Jamun, huh? I guess I'm going to have to let my Indian grocer know that they've been mislabeling their kaala jamun, for hmmmm... 15 years. And all these restaurants that mention cheese or paneer in their menu descriptions- all those menus are going to have be reprinted.

Not to mention the tens of Indian websites that have paneer based recipes. Here's a small sampling:

From Chennai online.com:

Gulab Jamun

Ingredients

Cottage Cheese 40 gms.

Khoya 200 gms.

Soda bi-carb ¼ tsp.

Flour (Maida) 2 tbsps.

Green cardamom powder ½ tsp.

Ghee/Oil for deep frying -

Sugar 400 gms

From the Hindustan Times:

Gulab Jamun

Ingredients

For Syrup

Sugar - 2 ½ cups; Water - 2 ½ cups

For Gulab Jamun

Whole milk fudge (khoya), mashed - 1/2 cup

Cottage cheese (paneer), mashed - 1/2 cup

Castor sugar (bura or powdered sugar) - 1 tbsp

Refined flour (maida) - 1tbsp

Baking powder - a pinch

Oil - for frying

Vetivier (Kewra) essence - few drops

From www.OurKarnataka.Com:

Gulab Jamuns:

Ingredients:

125 gms khoa (solidified milk); 250 gms cheena (soft cream cheese); pinch of salt, 125 gms flour (maida); ½ tsp baking powder, 500 gms of sugar; few drops of essence or ½ tsp crushed cardamom; ½ litre water and ghee for frying.

From www.khanakhazana.com

Gulab Jamun

There are different ways of preparing Gulab jamun. This one is how most confectioners in India prepare it.

Ingredients

Cardamom to taste(powder)

¼ lb. Indian Cottage Cheese(grated)

2 tsps. Raw Cream

2 cups Sugar

2 tbsps. All Purpose Flour

Vegetable Oil for frying

¼ tsp. Baking Soda

½ lb. Dry Milk

From www.MantraOnNet.com

These are some of the fasting foods prepared during various religious occassions:

10. GULAB JAMUN

Ingredients :

Khoya 300 gms.

Chhenna 50 gms.

Sugar 4 1/2 cups

Flour 40 gms.

A pinch of soda bi-carbonate

Green Cardomom 10

Pistachio 4 tsp

Saffron 2 tsp

Rose water 2 drops

Ghee to deep fry.

From www.punjabi.net

* Khoya Gulab Jamoons *

2 cups grated khoya, 1 cup grated paneer, 2 tbsp cornflour, 2 tbsp heavy cream

2 powdered cardamons, 2 cups sugar, 2 cups water, 2 tsp milk, 1/2 tsp rose essence, Oil

From www.indoindians.com:

Gulab Jamun

Brown colored dumplings of maida soaked in sugar syrup

Ingredients

1/8 cup Paneer

1/4 cup Mawa (Khoya)

1/4 tsp. Soda bi-carb

1 1/2 cup Sugar

2 strands saffron

2 tbsp. Flour (Maida - all purpose flour)

1/2 tsp. Green cardamom powder

ghee (clarified butter)/Oil for deep frying

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Wow, this is going to take a lot of work setting these people straight! But if you say there's absolutely no paneer in Gulab Jamon, then, hey, that's good enough for me

Edited July 28, 2006 by scott123 (log)

[rajsuman]

As someone who has been trying to replicate the restaurant-style Gulab Jamuns for ages, I have to agree with Scott, er, 123. I have tried several recipes, most of them involving powdered milk, but the best tasting GJs come from a mixture of khoya and paneer. Not that I would ever discriminate against one made with milk powder - a gulab jamun is a gulab jamun after all. I used a Sanjeev Kapoor recipe which seems to have disappeared fom the web. I'll see if I have it somewhere on my computer. His website has a few complimentary recipes, but the rest are only viewable by subscribers.

[anvi]

No paneer in Gulab Jamun, huh? I guess I'm going to have to let my Indian grocer know that they've been mislabeling their kaala jamun, for hmmmm... 15 years. And all these restaurants that mention cheese or paneer in their menu descriptions- all those menus are going to have be reprinted.

Not to mention the tens of Indian websites that have paneer based recipes. Here's a small sampling:

----------------------------------------------------

Wow, this is going to take a lot of work setting these people straight! But if you say there's absolutely no paneer in Gulab Jamon, then, hey, that's good enough for me

←

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.

[scott123]

Anvi, you made the blanket statement, not I.

Paneer and khoya are mixed together to make Kala jaam or kaala Jamun and not gulab jamun.

This statement makes it very clear that a paneer based gulab jamun cannot exist.

I never disavowed the possibility of gulab jamun made without paneer. You've taken my quote entirely out of context. Within my experience, at the restaurants I've been to and the grocers that I've shopped at, 'paneer is an ingredient across the board.'

I didn't say "the only way is my way." You did.

Gulab jamun can be made with paneer or it can be made without. Neither can be summarily dismissed.

[anvi]

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.

[scott123]

LOL Khoya based, huh? *sigh* Alright ;

Even though gulab jamuns rank in my top three favorite desserts, I know almost nothing about kaala jamuns. I invariably have to move the kaala jamuns aside while reaching for the gulab jamuns in the refrigerated case of my grocer. The one difference that struck me, and again, this may only be local, but the KJs appear to be a couple shades darker than the GJs. The GJs I'd place in the roasted peanut spectrum (with a little more orange) and the KJs closer to dark chocolate (again, with some more warmth).

Also, is 'kala jamun' acceptable? If memory serves me correctly, that's how my grocer labels them.

[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.

[scott123]

Anvi, there's no need to be sorry. Our ideas were being challenged, not you or I personally. At no point was I aware of any animosity directed towards me and I hope that you can say the same.

*Extending a hand* What do you say... friends?

[BBhasin]

I have had great sucess with the following simple recipe

1 cup Carnation Milk Powder

1 cup Bisquick

1/8th cup vegetable oil

1/3rd cup water

Mix and knead well. Form into 16 balls. Deepfry medium hot oil till golden. Soak in syrup.

Tips.

1 Quantity of water varies with season ( summer, winter) and humidity. You want a nice soft but firm dough but not too soft.

2 use fresh ( virgin) oil for best results. I have had the gulab jamuns fall apart when I used old oil.