Gulab Jamun (Khoya Version)

Gulab jamun is one of the popular desserts from the Indian sub continent that is usually a hit among crowd of all ages. Dough balls made with flour and milk solids / milk powder are deep fried until golden brown and then soaked in warm sugar syrup that has been flavored with aromatic cardamom / saffron. The result is super delicious, soft & spongy, melt in mouth kind gulab jamuns that one finds hard to resist.
I grew up eating gulab jamuns prepared using store bought instant packets and therefore have no qualms using a MTR / Gits packet now whenever needed. They yield super delicious, spongy gulab jamuns beside being hassle free and cost effective. However from a long time, this blogging bug had given me an itch to prepare them from scratch. And so naturally the version Pradnya posted during the A - Z marathon caught my attention. The recipe sounded very easy and besides I had khoya in my freezer. The recipe was tried and my husband who shows least tolerance towards desserts was also praising it.

Ingredients: (yield about 15 jamuns)
1 & 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 cup unsweetened  khoya / mawa
1/2 cup all purpose flour / maida
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 - 5 tbsp. milk (Adjust the quantity accordingly.)
Oil for deep frying (I used canola oil.)

Method:
* Add sugar and water to a sauce pan and bring it to a boil, stirring in between on medium flame. When the sugar melts, simmer for about five minutes and turn off the stove. No need to make sugar syrup of any thread consistency here. Add cardamom powder to the sugar solution and mix well. Or you can add few saffron strands instead.

* Sieve flour and baking powder together.

* If the khoya is frozen / granular, just pop it in the microwave for few seconds and crumble it.
* Now combine the flour mixture and khoya in a mixing bowl. Gradually add milk to the flour - khoya mixture, one tbsp at a time and knead it into a smooth dough. The final dough should be such that it wouldn't stick to hands. Cover and let it rest for five minutes.

* Knead the dough one more time and prepare about 15 - 20 small balls out of it. Take care that the balls are smooth without any cracks.

* Heat oil in a frying pan. Add a small piece of dough to the oil to check whether the oil is ready for frying. If the dough piece sizzles and comes to surface immediately, then frying can be started.
* Add the dough balls to the hot oil, as many as the pan can fit without overcrowding. Fry on low flame until the dough balls are cooked through and turn golden brown through out.

* Remove the fried jamuns with a slotted spoon and drop them in the sugar syrup prepared earlier.
* Let them soak for at least 30 minutes before serving. Longer soaking would result in juicy and soft jamuns.

* Serve jamuns in small dessert cups with a little sugar syrup. Though jamuns taste good on their own, vanilla ice cream or rabri can be served along.

This is going to be a part of BM #35 under the theme of "Desserts". Check what other marathoners are cooking here.

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