Raksha Bandhan 2021: This melt-in-mouth gulab jamun recipe is a must try
Ahead of Raksha Bandhan, this super-easy and quick gulab jamun recipe is a must to celebrate the occasion with your family.
Raksha Bandhan 2021 is just a day away and it's time to whip up your favourite delicacies for the much-awaited celebrations. Gulab jamun is the quintessential Indian sweet that is relished on every special occason be it weddings, birthdays or festivals. This lip-smacking recipe by Chef Sanjyot Keer would take hardly less than half-n-hour to be ready.
The chef suggests you to make sure that the oil is not too hot while frying and the sugar syrup too must have a warm temperature when you finally dip your gulab jamuns into it after frying.
Gulab Jamun Recipe
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 24 gulab jamuns (depending on the size)
Sugar syrup (chaashni)
Ingredients:
Cheeni (sugar) 4 cups
Paani (water) 3 cups
Gulab Jal (rose water) 1 tbsp
Chotielaichi (green cardamom) 3-4 pods
ALSO READ: Quick and easy Sooji Gulab Jamun dessert recipe courtesy Chef Ranveer Brar
Method:
Take a stock pot or wok, add sugar and water, keep stirring until it dissolves completely, bring to a boil and add rose water, green cardamom. Mix well and switch off the flame. We do not require any sort of one string or two string consistency, it should just be a simple sugar syrup.
Keep the sugar syrup aside, no need to cool down, let the temperature drop on its own. Make sure to keep them warm.
Gulab jamun
Ingredients:
Hariyali mawa 250 gm / 1 cup
Malai paneer 1/4th cup / 65 gm
Maida (refined flour) 4 tbsp
Baking powder 1 tsp
Oil for frying
Method
For making perfect soft gulab jamun we require specifically “hariyali mawa”. If it’s not available you can also use fresh soft mawa.
Use a big size thal and add the mawa, if the mawa is a little tough, use a grater to break it down or else you could directly start to cream (mathna) the mawa, using the base of your palm.
Cream the mawa until its smooth and creamy in texture, there should be no grains in the mawa. You need to do this process for at least 15 minutes or until the entire batch of the mawa is smooth. This process surely may be time consuming but it’s very important as doing this step will make you a perfect gulab jamun.
After creaming the mawa, take the malai paneer and grate. You must cream the paneer as well in the same way as done for mawa. Cream it well until it is smooth in texture. You can also use chenna if not paneer.
Once they both are smooth in texture, mix well and add maida in batches. Make sure not to add them all at once. The quantity of maida will differ depending on the moisture level in the paneer and mawa, so just add in batches. You need to add and mix well until it forms a dough, and it starts to leave the thal. This recipe, with this quantity won’t require more than 4 or 5 or 6 tbsp of flour.
Once it has mixed nicely and formed a dough like texture, add baking powder and incorporate well in the dough.
Rest the dough for 10-15 minutes and cover with a cloth. In the meantime you can make the chaashni.
After making the chaashni, divide the dough in small and equal size balls. Make sure to shape them in small shape as they will get bigger in size when they will soak up the chaashni.
Shape them in perfect roundels one by one and make sure there should not be any cracks on the gulab jamun. Also cover the shaped balls with moist cloth to avoid them from drying.
Set a wok filled with oil for frying the gulab jamuns. Make sure the oil is not very hot.
Add the gulab jamun balls. Make sure to not let the spoon touch them or else they may break. Fry in batches and do not overcrowd the kadhai.
Fry them on low flame maintaining the temperature and keep stirring so that they get cooked evenly from the inside as well.
Once they are acquire a nice golden brown colour, immediately drop them in warm sugar. The temperature of the sugar should not exceed above 50 or the gulab jamun will become too soft and may lose its shape.
Now, let the gulab jamun rest in the sugar syrup for minimum 4 hours so that they can absorb the syrup nicely. Your perfect gulab jamun is ready to be served, just warm them a little bit before serving to get that perfect soft texture.
Health tip
Gulab Jamun being laden with calories must be consumed in moderation. Make sure to eat a balanced meal with high amount of fibre and exercise to control your calorie intake.