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gulab jamuns, a sweet fried milk ball dessert shown garnished with nuts in a silver platter
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4.80 from 40 votes

Gulab Jamun with milk powder

A popular Pakistani/Indian sweet, made by frying milk dough balls in oil and dipping in a sweet rose flavored sugar syrup.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: South Asian
Servings: 16 balls
Calories: 157kcal
Author: Wajiha

Ingredients

For Syrup

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3 green cardamoms choti elaichi
  • 1 tablespoon rose water optional
  • A pinch of yellow food coloring optional

For Milk balls

  • 1 cup full fat milk powder 100 gm
  • 1 large egg - cold 54 gm
  • 1 tablespoon ghee clarified butter
  • 1 teaspoon white flour maida
  • 1 tablespoon semolina suji
  • 1 tablespoon thick yogurt cold
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • A pinch of cardamom powder elaichi powder (optional)
  • Oil or ghee for deep frying

Special Equipment

  • 2 saucepans or pots wide and deep, one to hold sugar syrup, and the other for deep frying balls.

Instructions

  • MILK BALLS
  • In a wide bowl, add all the dry ingredients for the balls, preferrably passed through a sieve.
  • Mix all the dry ingredients together with a spoon
  • Make a well in the center of the bowl, add ghee, yogurt and egg.
  • Use a spatula or the back of a spoon to "knead" the ingredients together. You can also use your hands if you like, but the finished dough is going to be super sticky and wet.
  • Once the dough is ready, cover the dough and refrigerate for 10 mins.
  • Bring out the rest dough and take heaped teaspoons to make small dough balls. Grease your hands if the dough is still sticky.
  • Roll out all dough balls and place on plate, make 1 or 2 small tester balls as well. Set aside.
  • SUGAR SYRUP
  • In a wide pot or sauce pan, add all the ingredients for sugar syrup and cook at medium flame till the sugar dissolves.
  • Once the sugar dissolves, reduce the heat to lowest possible, and let the syrup simmer, while you fry the milk balls
  • COOKING the gulab jamuns
  • In another large wide saucepan add oil or ghee enough to be an inch deep in the pan.
  • Turn on the flame/heat and once the oil is warm, reduce the heat to low.
  • Do a test run, add a small milk ball in the oil. It should sink and slowly rise up without getting scorch mark from the bottom. If it turns brown immediately, your oil is too hot.
  • Add all the balls into the pan.
  • Use a wooden spoon and stir the oil in the centre of the pot creating a whirpool effect, without touching the balls, to keep them rotating in the pot.
  • When the gulab jamuns stop expanding, use the spoon to constantly move the balls around for even browning. This should take 3 to 5 mins.
  • After the gulab jamuns turn golden brown, use a skimmer to move the balls and directly into the sugar syrup (which is still simmering at a low flame)
  • After adding all the gulab jamuns to the sugar syrup, turn up the heat till the syrup starts bubbling. Cover the pot and let the gulab jamuns cook in the syrup for 5 mins.
  • Reduce flame after 5 mins to low and let the balls simmer for another 10 mins.
  • Turn off flame and let the balls cool down a little
  • Serve warm, garnished with chopped nuts and rose petals.

Notes

  • I am not a fan of the taste or smell of Saffron in my gullab jamuns so I use food color instead or sometimes skip it altogether. You can use Saffron if you like
  • Use cold yogurt and egg, while room temperature ghee is ideal.
  • A detailed FAQ is on the blogpost.
  • Use greek yogurt if you can, for regular or watery yogurt, strain it for 5 mins to remove any excess liquid

Nutrition

Serving: 1ball | Calories: 157kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 45mg | Sugar: 32g