Potato Gulab Jamun

Sweet potato jamuns were on my mind when I picked 'sweets with vegetables' theme. However when the time came to cook, I had to work with whatever vegetables I had on hand when we decided to not venture out at all during the lock down period. I had about 20 pounds of potatoes and I therefore decided that one of the sweets would be potato based. I was wondering whether sweet potatoes can be replaced by potatoes in the jamun recipe and dear Google showed that in fact I can. 

I tried this recipe and surprisingly, potato based jamuns taste delicious and they didn't disappoint. It is hard to detect potatoes in the dish and they make a great substitute for the regular dairy based ones. It is perfect when those jamun cravings hit and there is no milk powder / khoya or the instant gulab jamun mix at hand. I was not very careful while preparing the dough and so probably a few balls opened up a little while frying though they didn't spread in the oil. It didn't make a difference though, once soaked in the sugar syrup. 
Ingredients for sugar syrup:
1.5 cup sugar 
1.5 cup water
A pinch of ground cardamom / 1 tsp. of rose water
Ingredients for gulab jamun:
1 cup boiled and mashed potato
3 - 4 tbsp. all purpose flour
A pinch of baking soda
Oil to fry gulab jamun

Directions:
* Peel and boil the potatoes until cooked through. 
* Heat sugar and water in a pan. When the sugar melts, lower the heat and cook until the sugar solution slightly thickens. (I usually leave the mixture on low heat for about 8 to 10 minutes.) Add cardamom / rose water and turn off the stove. 

* Drain the cooked potatoes well so that there is no water left. Grate the boiled potatoes to keep them even or mash them finely so that there are not any lumps. 

* Add flour and baking soda to the mashed potatoes.

* Knead the mixture into a smooth dough without any cracks. Do not add any water to the mix. If the mixture appears loose add a tbsp. of extra flour to the mixture and knead.

* Make big marble sized balls from the mixture, each without any cracks. 

* Heat oil in a pan on medium flame but no need to bring it to a smoking point. When a small pinch of dough is dropped into the hot oil and it swims to the surface, then the oil is ready to fry. If it sinks and stays at the bottom then the oil needs to heated a little longer. 

* Drop the dough balls into the pan, gently sliding it from the sides of the pan. Add as many dough balls as the pan can fit, without overcrowding. 

* Lower the heat to low medium and fry, turning them intermittently until they turn golden brown through out. If fried on high heat, they get brown quickly and do not get cooked through.

* Remove the fried balls with a slotted spoon, (draining as much oil as possible into the pan) and gently drop them into the warm sugar syrup.
* Repeat the steps with the remaining dough balls. 
* Let the gulab jamun sit for a while before serving and warm them in a microwave before serving, if preferred.

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