The Gulab Jamun ... Crown Jewel of the desserts

I have a special surprise for you today and its the one dessert which i have been in love with ever since i was a child. But ever since i turned vegan , i struggled to find a recipe that would allow me to enjoy this special dessert without the guilt of added dairy. Finally after about 2 years i cracked the code to making this scrumptious dessert vegan. and it's much less labour than the traditional recipe. No words come close to describing the heavenly feeling of this soft golden orbs literally melting in the mouth , releasing out the sweet nectar and sugary syrup. That being said enjoy this traditional Indian dessert from the comfort of your home and it can be put together in under 45 mins plus some wait time to let the balls absorb the syrup. So let's get started.

Preparation:

Gulab Jamun Balls

1. To prepare the gulab jamun, take about 1 cup of water and heat it till it starts to boil. Now reduce the flame to low.

2. Next take about half cup of semolina or suji and pour it gradually into the boiling water while stirring it continuously so that it starts to combine into a nice dough.

3. Turn off the heat and let this dough cool down enough to be handled for kneading

4. Add a touch of oil to your palm and start kneading the dough with light hands till the dough becomes firm and smooth and ready to be rolled into small balls

5. Now begin to make small balls by rolling the dough gently between the palms in a circular motion.

6. Repeat this process till you have made the balls from all the dough. This should give you about 20 -25 medium sized balls

7. Now in a frying pan, add vegetable oil and heat the oil till it is sufficiently hot

8. Add the balls (max 3-5 ) at a time and fry till the balls turn golden brown and placing them on a tissue paper to drain off the excess oil.

9. Repeat this process for all the Suji balls and keep them aside to cool off while we work on preparing the sugar syrup

Syrup

10. In a sauce pan , combine about 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar and place on the medium heat and heat the water while stirring it continuously, for approx. 15- 20 mins or till the solution becomes viscous and has syrupy consistency.

11. Then add a pinch of green cardamom powder and a few strands of saffron in this syrup and let it cool for 10 mins , letting the flavors infuse.

12. Last but not the least add all the balls in this syrup and set aside for at least 60 mins to let the balls soak in this liquid. Occasionally shuffling the balls to let the ones on top move to the base and so that the liquid is readily available to all the gulab jamun.

I know it is incredibly hard to wait when you have gulab jamun in the house and the kitchen smells so amazing but please be patient and i promise you the result will be worth it :)

Garnish:

Serve the gulab jamun in a bowl and sprinkle some chopped nuts .

So i hope you like this recipe. Happy cooking :)

There is a reason why gulab jamun is one of the most popular dessert

You just can't have one :)