Gulab Jamun
Gulab Jamun (2014)
Gulab Jamun is easily the most popular and loved dessert in India. Gulab jamun is best described as an Indian version of a donut immersed in a sweet syrup. Gulab jamun recipe is especially dear to me as it was my very first video showcased on YouTube. To be frank, I never dreamed that I would still be doing what I love seven years later. Not everyone can say they are truly following their passion. So in this spirit I decided I would present another version of Gulab Jamun a sweet snack savored by all. This recipe is simpler than my original recipe, but still delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 cup nonfat milk powder
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour (plain flour, maida)
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, use as needed
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom coarsely ground
For Syrup
- 1-1/2 cup sugar
- 1-1/2 cup water
Other
- Oil to fry
Instructions
For Syrup
- In a pan add water, sugar bring it to boil, stir until the sugar has dissolved. Turn off the heat. Set aside.
For Gulab Jamun
- In a bowl, mix milk powder, all purpose flour, baking soda, and cardamom add cream and mix it well. This will be consistency of soft dough, if it is too dry add 1 to 2 spoons of milk as needed not the cream. Dough should be very soft and sticking to fingers, as dough sits milk powder will absorb the extra cream. Cover and set aside for about 10 minutes.
- Knead the dough; grease your palm before working the dough.
- Divide the dough into 18 equal parts and roll them into round balls.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat. The frying pan should have at least 1 inch of oil. Notes: To test if the oil is the right temperature, place a small piece of dough into the oil; oil should sizzle but it should take about 30 seconds to rise the dough. If dough rises faster, oil is too hot; if dough just sits without rising, oil is not hot enough.
- Place the gulab Jamuns in the frying pan. Note: remember gulab jamuns will expand in about double the size, so give them enough space, and don’t over crowed them.
- It should take about 7 minutes to fry the gulab jamuns. While frying keep rolling the gulab jamuns so they are evenly browned. You can make gulab jamuns in different size and shapeFry until the gulab jamuns become brown.
- Let the gulab jamuns cool off for a few minutes before placing them in the hot syrup, not boiling.
- The gulab jamuns should sit in the syrup for at least 20 minutes prior to serving.
Notes
Additional Tips
- If the gulab jamuns are fried on high heat, they will become hard inside and not fully cooked.
- Too much baking soda will cause the gulab jamuns to get too soft or they will break apart when frying.
- Don’t place the gulab jamuns in the syrup immediately after frying. This will cause the gulab jamuns to lose their shape and become chewy.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
71 Responses
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
what is the replacement of all purpose flour. i am looking for gluten free gulabjamun.
Dear Manjula Ji
I have seen a few of your recipes and there are very simply explained and easy to follow. The out come taste is also awesome.
You have inspired me to cook curries and now I am going to make some sweet dishes like the Gulab Jamoun, Atta ke Ladoo and the Gajjar ka Halwa. God Bless you.
Morris, Thanks I am so happy to know that.
Manjula ji can I fry the jamuns and keep without soaking for few days and then later soak it in hot syrup and serve fresh? I’m looking to see how to prepare big batch ahead of time and still serve fresh
See, you need to soak just after you cook them, Gulab Jamuns have long shelf life, if you are making the 3-4 days before, do not refrigerate them just warm them before serving they will taste like you just made them.
If i dont have baking powder or soda can i use yeast? For the dough?
Mala I do not think that will work
Manjula di ,heavy cream kaun sa means amul fresh cream or something else
Hello
I made mine but it had a grainy texture but it was really soft and melt in the mouth as well! Is it suppose to taste grainy ?? If not why was mine grainy??
Puspa, I think you needed to knead little more.
Hello Manjula Ji
A quick question please
How can we store gulab jamun?
Do we need to keep in syrup till the gulab jamun finish????
Or need to take the whole gulab jamuns out from the syrup and store in another container.
Kiran ether way taste good
I love u
Hi Manjula – You mention oil for frying. Can you indicate what kind of oil is best to use?
Nikul, I use canola oil
Namaste Aunty
I dont have heavy cream but have half and half and whipped topping. Can I substitute any of these with heavy cream?
Anshul, check my first Gulab Jamun recipe that will work. https://manjulalive.wpenginepowered.com/gulab-jamun/
What to do if too much baking powder added??
Yogendra, with too much baking powder gulab jamuns will brake and I don’t know how much you added may be try adding little more all purpose flour
Manjula,
I would just like to say, I made these today and they are absolutely delicious.
Thank you for the lovely recipe!
Is using cardamom mandetory? And what is the fat percentage in the heavy cream that you used? I have found heavy cream with different fat percentage
Farzana, cardamom is not mandatory, I think it has 30 percent fat
Thank you. I made the golap jamun . It was really good. Alhamdulillah
How to make long life sugar syrup
Hello aunty
Today making gulab jamuns but they are getting brown very fast and are raw from inside though frying on low medium heat.
What can i do now i hv not fried all of them?
Anshul. lower the heat, need to cook them on very low heat
Which brand milk powder to use for gulab jamuns?
I am new to USA and there are many types and brands available. Is great value non fat dry milk powder good for it?
Anshul, any brand should work. I bur from Walmart or Ralph a grocery store near me
Manjula Ji,
If i were to use full cream milk powder, do i still use the heavy cream? is the measurement for milk powder still the same with full cream milk powder?
Vicky, I have never tried, I am sure you still have to add some cream.
Greetings from Costa Rica! I loved this recipe, Manjula. How do you keep them when done? Can I put them in a glass container with the syrup? Thank you.
Paz, Gulab Jamuns you can keep any container,
Hello
Could you provide the measurements using metric units?
I tried converting your cup measumrents into grams and my balls even after soaking them in the syrup are rubbery and slightly hollow despite frying them gently.
This might have occurred due to the addition of more plain flour and milk powder that I added after seeing the initial dough was very liquidy.
Thanks
Hi Mam,the recipe came out really nice…thanks for sharing this recipe….In india we can get the full fat milk powder(already has fat)in that case shall we replace heavy cream with regular whole milk?kindly clarify my above query.
Hi Mam,the recipe came out really nice…thanks for sharing this recipe….In india we can get the full fat milk powder(already has fat)in that case shall we replace heavy cream with regular whole milk?kindly clarify my above query.
Hi Mam,
The recipe came out really well..thanks for posting the recipe…Kinldy clarify the below question mam,In india we can get full fat milk powder(already has fat)in that case do we need to add heavy cream?Or shall we replace heavy cream with full fat normal drinking milk?
Sujanya, I have never tried with full fat milk powder, I am sure it will work try
We had a program at our home last evening with a gathering of about 25 people and I decided to make these gulab jamuns for dessert. These were a hit. Everybody asked for more. I can’t thank you enough Manjulaji. Thank you so much for this recipe.
hello aunty…i cant find heavy cream where i stay…any other option i can use apart from heavy cream? How about milk? Will it work? And if yes the how much should i use…thanks
Here is the link to my earlier gulab jamun (2006) recipe: https://manjulalive.wpenginepowered.com/2006/12/23/gulab-jamun/
In that version, there is no heavy cream.
Is it ok to use regular milk powder? And do you think i can freeze the dough balls and defrost them to use later?
Hi manjulaji,
I love ur recipes. I wanna know which heavy cream to be used. I live in US idaho and there is no Indian grocery store here. Please tell me the brand used for cream.
chetana, any heavy cream will work
Manjula Ji
I tried your recipe for gulab jamun 2014 . I followed the recipe exactly except the quantity of heavy cream. My dough was very dry so I added may be 1/4 cup more . Only thing is that my gulab jamuns were not holding their perfect round shape after I dipped them in the sugar syrup. So they don’t look very good from presentation point of view. Can you please tell me how to correct this.
Thanks.
Sunita.
Sunita, was dough too soft, I think you added too much cream
Thank you for posting! I’ve been looking for a simple gulab jamun recipe I can make with ingredients I have in the United States. This looks perfect, and I can’t wait to try 🙂
only want to ask is heavy cream and thickened cream is same ?
Can you please tell me the substitute for heavy cream? It is expensive in dubai. I tried your old recipe but gulab jamuns turned out to be very hard and did not absorb syrup. Thank you
brinacyl, may be fried them on high heat, or may be the dough was too dry, or use little more baking soda
i forgot to mention there were cracks when i was making balls out of the dough. thanks a lot !!
1 cup: 150 g or 120 g or 250 g?
hello aunty
gulab jamun recipe is so gud.
i made this morning and they come really gud.
thanks
Madam I live in india which is non fat milk powder I can use here
Wow, it’s not often I have a complete disaster in the kitchen, especially not following an established recipe. But this went horribly wrong for me, the gulab jamuns burned really quickly, even on a fairly low heat, and on a REALLY low heat they fried but just started falling apart. The only thing I can think is this “nonfat milk powder” – I just used the first powdered milk I came across, assuming (as usual) that non-fat/low-fat is stipulated just for health reasons. I guess I was wrong, probably the fat is just melting and making the things fall apart. There’s something to be aware of next time… In the end I baked them in the oven (!) which sort of got them into a cake-like state, and then soaked them in the syrup, and they were actually very good – my family certainly ate them up in 5 minutes flat, but I guess I need to find no-fat milk powder next time, this one was 25% fat!
Markowe, Sorry I have never experience like that, I think you used too much baking soda
What’s the solution if I’ve already out in too much baking soda?? Can add more mana and maids help?
Arpita, did not understand your question
Waoo i have tried the same procedure to make gulab jaamun , me and my family really njoyed …. thank u mam
wow, my favorite dessert 🙂 i have tried this gulab jamuns recipe and it was so yummy
thanks for sharing delicious recipes
Are the sryups for gulab jamun and jalebi the same? I mean, should i turn off the heat as soon as the water boils and sugar dissolves for jalebis also?
Hope,
Yes,
Madam, I’m a great fan of all your recipes and I have tried many of your recipes and it came out very well. I just came across your new version of gulabjamun and I have just a doubt in that. 1/8tsp baking soda means how much. is it 1/4th tsp like that or inbetween of 1/4th tsp and 1/2tsp. please advise. thank u. sangeethaa.
SANGEETHAA,
a big pinch
Thank u mam.
Can’t wait to try this recipe! When I lived in India the Gulab Jamuns were usually flavored with rose water. Are there other traditional flavorings one can add to the syrup?
Edward Higgins, your preference I like cardamom
Can honey replace some or all of the sugar in the syrup?
Dena,
try, I have never used, but please do share the result
Hey. Did it work? I have the same question.
Love the receipies
I am so gonna try it, but, after finishing the homework of 2 weeks for 4 courses… 😐