Gulab Jamun is a milk-solid based dessert from Indian Sub-continent. It is a popular dessert and is especially prepared during special occasions and festivals in India and its neighbouring countries. Gulab Jamun recipe is a simple recipe which is very easy to follow. Since it is a simple and tasty dish it is popular in many countries such as Mynammar, Mauritius, Guyana etc.
The prime ingredient for this dish is Milk Cheese aka as Khoa or Khoya or Mawa.
Gulab Jamun
Gulab Jamun is a popular dish and is commonly available in Indian restaurants not just in India but worldwide.
There are many different methods for preparing the dish such as using Milk Cheese or dry powdered milk. For quite sometime, instant ready mix are also available in market to easily make Gulab Jamun at home.
Gits and MTR are popular Gulab Jamun instant ready mix brands. In this Gulab Jamun recipe we will cover both the methods as the variation is mainly in preparing the dough. Rest of the steps remain the same whether you use an instant ready mix or Milk Cheese with Arrowroot or Maida (All Purpose Flour).
While preparing the dish we used Arrowroot so that you can consume this dish during fasting (Vrat).
Whichever method you choose we can guarantee the Gulab Jamuns will be equally tasty.
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Since this is a dessert it best compliments with a spicy dinner.
Refer recipe card and detailed steps to follow our Gulab Jamun recipe. Make this tasty dessert at home and enjoy this festive season.
Ingredients for Gulab Jamun
Here is the list of all ingredients that you need to make this dessert. Most of the ingredients as mentioned in this Gulab Jamun recipe should be easily available in nearby grocery or local supermarket. If you are living outside, many of these ingredients are now-a-days readily available in major supermarkets due to their extensive use in cooking.
Spices
This dessert requires very less ingredients. Primary Ingredients are Sugar and Cardamom Pods. Spices such as Cardamom pods and Saffron threads give excellent flavour to the dessert. You can easily find all of these spices in local food store or supermarket especially under Asian spices section.
Even if you are living in countries outside India such as United States or United Kingdom you can easily find all the ingredients in supermarkets. However, in some places you may face a bit of challenge in finding Arrowroot (Ararot) powder. If you do find some challenges see if you can grab some All Purpose Flour.
In case you are not able to find Saffron threads, you can replace them with food colour. Rest of the ingredients and spices are for better flavour.
Milk Cheese (Khoya or Mawa)
Fresh Milk Cheese is the key ingredient to make Gulab Jamun. If you are living in India you should be able to find good quality Milk Cheese in near-by shop. In case milk cheese (Khoya) is not of good quality the dough balls may easily break while frying. This will spoil its texture.
If you are living outside India you may face some difficulty in finding Milk Cheese. In such case you can choose to go with Ready mix which is mostly available in Asian shops, Online stores such as Amazon or even in few supermarkets.
Gulab Jamun Ready Mix
Due to the popularity of this dish many food companies have presented their Gulab Jamun ready mix in the market. Ready Mix is an excellent choice if you want to make this dish quicker or if you do not have access to fresh Milk Cheese.
One of the key advantages of using ready mix over Milk Cheese is that they have better shelf-life (6 months to 1 year). Also, it helps speed up the process of making perfect Gulab Jamun in very less time. With ready mix you will get perfectly round dough balls which won’t break while frying.
Personally we have tested few ready mix and Gits, MTR are both are excellent to make this dish. MTR and Gits Gulab Jamun ready mix are super easy to make, tasty and can save you a lot of time.
Ghee
You can find this ingredient as Clarified butter in most stores. If you are in India we recommend using Amul Ghee for great taste. Outside India you can get different brands of Clarified butter. Usually the packaged Clarified butter contains some amount of Vegetable oil to keep it fluent in low temperature.
Pure Ghee is more granular and not fluent especially in low temperature. If you can get hold of pure Ghee the flavour and Aroma is just awesome and is best for cooking. In case you are out of luck and do not have Clarified butter, you can use some pure butter instead.
Preparation Steps for Gulab Jamun
Take a bowl and use a grater to grate milk cheese (Khoya). This will ensure milk cheese does not form any lumps while making dough balls.
Now add Arrowroot to grated milk cheese and mix them well. In case Arrowroot is not handy, you can use same amount of all purpose flour.
Now knead them together. If required add small quantity of clarified butter or spoonful of Milk. Just ensure that the dough is soft and not hard else it will break while cooking.
Now cover dough with a cling film or a thin cloth and let it rest for 10 mins.
How to make Gulab Jamun
To make this tasty dish you basically need to master the preparation of Sugar Syrup. If you make thicker Sugar Syrup, your Gulab Jamuns will become rock hard when cold. However if you make thinner Sugar Syrup the dish will be less sugary and will not taste good. Rest of the steps to make this dish are fairly straight-forward.
So let us first start with making the Sugar Syrup.
How to make Sugar Syrup for Gulab Jamun
To make Sugar Syrup first take 2 cups of water in a wide pan and add equal amount of sugar to it. Now switch on the flame and keep the pan on it so that the water starts boiling.
Now put the flame on medium and add Cardamom pods, Saffron threads and Lime juice to the Sugar Syrup. The Lime juice will help reduce crystallisation of Sugar Syrup.
Now keep the Sugar Syrup on simmer flame for 3 – 4 minutes until the Sugar Syrup starts becoming slightly sticky.
Turn off the flame and cover the pan with a lid. Once Gulab Jamuns are ready we will use this Sugar Syrup to dip them and complete this dish. Now let us see how to make Gulab Jamun balls and fry them.
How to fry Gulab Jamun
To make Gulab Jamun balls, first apply small amount of clarified butter on the palm of your hands. Now take some dough and roll them between your palms to make small dough balls. Keep rolling till the time there are no cracks in the balls. Keep them aside for frying.
Use the whole dough to prepare all the balls before frying. You should now have around 20 – 25 dough balls ready for frying.
Now take 2 cup clarified butter in a deep frying pan and switch on the flame. Keep the flame on high.
Once the clarified butter is hot, switch off the flame and put 6 – 8 Gulab Jamun balls in it and fry them.
Cover remaining dough balls with a clean damp cloth so they will not loose moisture. If you do not do this then many times remaining balls will loose moisture and start forming crust on its surface. Due to this the balls will start breaking while frying and spoil. The Gulab Jamun balls will also lose texture and will not look good.
As you fry dough balls, constantly turn them using a Spatula so that they are fried properly. Fry them until they are golden brown in colour from all sides.
If the Clarified butter starts cooling too quickly switch on the flame and keep it on simmer flame. If you will put the flame on high, it will burn the dough balls. Also the Gulab Jamuns may not cook properly from inside.
Regulating the flame is the key to make proper Gulab Jamuns. Ensure to pre-heat Clarified butter before frying each batch of 6 – 8 Gulab Jamuns.
Once they are golden brown in colour, take them out and keep them on kitchen towel or Kitchen tissue. Paper towels will absorb any excess clarified butter from them.
Put the pan containing Sugar Syrup on Simmer flame.
Now add fried Gulab Jamun balls to the Sugar Syrup and let them heat up for 5 mins. This will ensure they will soak Sugar Syrup properly. Now switch off the flame.
Don’t heat up for too long else the Sugar Syrup will start becoming thick due to which Gulab Jamun may not soak properly.
Now keep them in Sugar Syrup for at-least 30 mins. Gulab Jamun size will now increase indicating they have soaked enough of Sugar Syrup.
Great job! You are now ready to serve Gulab Jamun. But before that, garnish them with some finely sliced Pistachio nuts and serve them hot.
Serving Ideas for Gulab Jamun
Gulab Jamun is an excellent choice for dessert especially during winter season and after a hot and spicy dinner. It goes well both with vegetarian and non-vegetarian curry dishes. It is a great combo with spicy curries such as – Dal Makhani, Palak Paneer, Lamb Curry, Chicken Curry, Mutton Curry, Shahi Paneer etc.
The dish is traditionally served hot with some extra Sugar Syrup however few people prefer them cold or moderately warm. Personally we do not like cold Gulab Jamun as they become thicker and harder than what you would usually expect them to be. To garnish the dish people finely chop pistachios and serve them hot.
How to make Gulab Jamun using Ready Mix
We also prepared this dessert using MTR and Gits Gulab Jamun Instant ready mix available in the market. The dessert was equally good as compared to preparing them using Milk Cheese and Arrowroot (Ararot).
The difference in making this dessert using ready mix and traditional method using Milk Cheese is the preparation of dough.
To make it using Gits Gulab Jamun mix, cut open the packet and take approx 1 cup Gits Gulab Jamun mix in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of water and knead it. Ensure there are no lump formations during this step.
Rest the freshly prepared dough for 5 mins. Now make small dough balls and follow the remaining steps as already mentioned in above recipe.
You should be able to prepare 12 – 15 Gulab Jamun balls with this quantity. The actual quantity will also depend on the size of dough balls that you make.
Chef Recommendations for Gulab Jamun
- While preparing dough ensure it is smooth and soft. Also, there are no lump formations.
- While preparing Gulab Jamun dough balls ensure there are no cracks else the balls will break or split while cooking.
- Do not fry dough balls on high flame as it will burn them from outside while it will remain uncooked from inside. Regulating flame is the key to make best Gulab Jamuns.
- Don’t keep Sugar Syrup on flame for too long else it will make it thick and difficult for fried dough balls to soak it well. If Sugar Syrup is too thick then the Gulab Jamun will not soak it properly and will be dry from inside.
- If you prefer Rose water flavour then you can add 1/2 tsp Rose water instead of Cardamom pods in Sugar Syrup.
- You can also use All purpose flour instead of Arrowroot powder. Sieve All purpose flour before mixing it with Milk Cheese. This will ensure there are no lump formations.
- You can consume this dessert during fast (Vrat) by adding Arrowroot powder instead of All Purpose flour.
- While preparing the dough if it becomes too soft, then add small quantity of Arrowroot or All purpose flour to it.
- If the dough is a little hard then add small quantity of clarified butter or spoonful of milk to soften it.
Users Ask
Milk Cheese (Khoya) is the key ingredient to make Gulab Jamun. To make this dish, you need to mix some Arrowroot (Ararot) with freshly grated milk cheese and fry these dough balls in Clarified butter. Finally the fried dough balls are dipped in Sugar syrup to make this excellent dessert.
Gulab Jamun is called by the same name in English language. There is no language specific name tagged to this excellent dessert though it is now quite popular in many english speaking countries such as United Kingdom and United States.
Since there is no English equivalent to it the name Gulab Jamun was added to Oxford English Dictionary in year 2017 along with many other popular words from different Indian languages.
No Gulab Jamun are not healthy as there are not many nutritional benefits associated with this dessert. It is an excellent dessert but should not be considered as a source of nutrients. The dish is high in calories and Sugar which is not good for health.
Eating this dessert quite often may easily lead to weight gains. It is better to eat them in moderate quantity simply to enjoy the dish.
Traditionally Gulab Jamuns are served hot with additional Sugar Syrup after a spicy meal. The dish is an excellent choice especially in winter season as it is served hot. It is an excellent dessert and compliments well with many spicy curry dishes such as Lamb Curry, Chicken Curry, Mutton Curry, Dal Makhani, Palak Paneer, Shahi Paneer etc.
Few people also eat this dish cold but we personally feel cold Gulab Jamuns become hard and many won’t like it this way.
No Gulab Jamun are not healthy for kids. They are good as a dessert and should not be considered as a source of nutrients. They are high in calories and Sugar which is not good for kids health. Though we understand that many kids love this dessert but this may lead to weight gains. It is better to eat them in moderate quantity simply to enjoy the dish.
MTR and Gits Gulab Jamun mix are two popular products in India. Both of them are excellent choice to make smooth and tasty Gulab Jamuns at home. We have personally tested these ready-mix and they are very easy to use and make excellent dessert. You can easily find these two brands both in store and online on Amazon.
In general you should be able to make around 90 – 100 Gulab Jamuns with 1 Kg of Khoya (Mawa). The number of balls that you can make also depend on the size of the dough balls. Approx 100 medium size dough balls can easily be made with a kilogram of Khoya.
Always use freshly sources Milk Cheese (Khoya or Mawa) to make smooth and tasty Gulab Jamuns.
Gulab Jamuns can break due to multiple reasons. Firstly it may spoil if Milk Cheese is not grated properly and there are lumps in it. Secondly it may also spoil if you do not have freshly sourced milk cheese with enough of fat (grease) in it.
In case you have lumps in grated milk cheese, ensure to remove them properly before making dough balls. In case you have fresh milk cheese but it is not having enough of fat (grease) in it, you can add 2 – 3 tsp Clarified butter while kneading the dough. This should add enough of fat to keep the dough balls smooth. You can follow above suggestions to prepare smooth rounded Gulab Jamun.
Discover More
And that is not all folks! Shall we take this opportunity to invite you to discover more tasty and yummy recipes in our food wonderland.
- Check more such desserts in our Dessert section.
- Why not try few more desserts this Summer. Check these desserts –
Gulab Jamun Recipe
Ingredients
Main Ingredients for Gulab Jamun
- 250 g Milk Cheese Mawa aka Khoa or Khoya
- 30 g Arrowroot Powder Ararot
- 2 Pistachio Pista
- Clarified Butter for Frying
Main Ingredients for Gulab Jamun – Sugar Syrup
- 2 cup Sugar Cheeni
- 2 cup Tap Water
- 3 Cardamom Pods Elaichi
- 2 Threads Saffron Kesar
- 2 – 3 drops Lime Juice
Instructions
Preparation Steps to make Gulab Jamun Dough
- Take a bowl and use a grater to grate milk cheese. This will ensure milk cheese does not form any lumps while making Gulab Jamun.250 g Milk Cheese
- Now add Arrowroot to grated milk cheese and mix them well. In case Arrowroot is not handy, you can use same amount of all purpose flour.250 g Milk Cheese, 30 g Arrowroot Powder
- Now knead them together. If required add small quantity of clarified butter or spoonful of Milk. Just ensure that the dough is soft and not hard else it will break while cooking.250 g Milk Cheese, 30 g Arrowroot Powder
- Now cover dough with a cling film or a thin cloth and let it rest for 10 mins.
How to make Sugar Syrup for Gulab Jamun
- Take 2 cup Water in a wide pan and add equal amount of sugar to it. Now switch on the flame so that water starts boiling.2 cup Sugar, 2 cup Tap Water
- Now put the flame on medium and add Cardamom pods, Saffron threads and Lime juice to the Sugar Syrup. The Lime juice will help reduce crystallization of Sugar Syrup.3 Cardamom Pods, 2 Threads Saffron, 2 – 3 drops Lime Juice
- Now keep the Sugar Syrup on simmer flame for 3 – 4 minutes until the Sugar Syrup starts becoming slightly sticky.
- Turn off the flame and cover the pan with a lid. Sugar Syrup will be used to dip Gulab Jamun balls once they are cooked.
How to make Gulab Jamun – Frying
- Apply small amount of clarified butter on the palm of your hands. Now take some dough and roll them between your palms to make small Gulab Jamun balls. Keep rolling till the time there are no cracks in the balls. Keep them aside for frying.
- Use the whole dough to prepare all the balls before frying. You should now have around 20 – 25 Gulab Jamun balls ready for frying.
- Now take 2 cup clarified butter in a deep frying pan and switch on the flame. Keep the flame on high.Clarified Butter
- Once the clarified butter is hot, switch off the flame and put 6 – 8 Gulab Jamun balls in it and fry them. Constantly turn them using a Spatula so that they are cooked properly until they are golden brown colour from all sides.
- If the Clarified butter starts cooling too quickly switch on the flame and keep it on simmer flame. If you will put the flame on high, this will burn the Gulab Jamun and may not cook them properly from inside. Regulating the flame is the key to make proper Gulab Jamun. Ensure to pre-heat Clarified butter before frying each batch of 6 – 8 Gulab Jamuns.
- Once Gulab Jamun are golden brown in colour, take them out and keep them on kitchen towel or Kitchen tissue paper towel so as to absorb excess clarified butter.
How to make Gulab Jamun – Deep into the Sugar Syrup
- Put the pan containing Sugar Syrup on Simmer flame.
- Now add Gulab Jamun balls to the Sugar Syrup and let them heat up for 5 mins. This will ensure Gulab Jamun will soak Sugar Syrup properly. Now switch off the flame.
- Don’t heat up for too long else the Sugar Syrup will start becoming thick due to which Gulab Jamun may not soak properly.
- Now keep Gulab Jamun in Sugar Syrup for at-least 30 mins. Gulab Jamun size will now increase indicating they have soaked enough of Sugar Syrup.
- Great job! Gulab Jamun are now ready to be served. But before that, garnish Gulab Jamun with some finely sliced Pistachio nuts and serve them hot.2 Pistachio
How to make Gulab Jamun using ready mix
- To make Gulab Jamun using ready mix we used Gits Gulab Jamun mix. The difference in making Gulab Jamun using ready mix is the preparation of dough. To make Gulab Jamun using Gits Gulab Jamun mix follow these steps –
- Open the packet and take approx 1 cup Gits Gulab Jamun mix in a bowl.
- Add 1/4 cup water to it and knead it to make a dough. Ensure there are no lump formations. Rest the freshly prepared dough for 5 mins.
- Now make small Gulab Jamun balls and follow the remaining steps to fry Gulab Jamun as already mentioned to make soft and tasty Gulab Jamun at home . You should be able to prepare 12 – 15 Gulab Jamun balls with this quantity (also depends on the size). Follow exact steps to make the Sugar Syrup.
Notes
- While preparing dough ensure it is smooth and soft. Also, there are no lump formations.
- While preparing Gulab Jamun balls ensure there are no cracks else the balls will break or split while cooking.
- Do not fry Gulab Jamun balls on high flame as it will burn them from outside while it will remain uncooked from inside. Regulating flame is the key to make best Gulab Jamuns.
- Don't keep Sugar Syrup on flame for too long else it will make it thick and difficult for Gulab Jamun to soak it well. If Sugar Syrup is too thick then the Gulab Jamun will not soak it properly and will be dry from inside.
- If you prefer Rose water flavour then you can add 1/2 tsp Rose water instead of Cardamom pods in Sugar Syrup.
- You can also use All purpose flour instead of Arrowroot powder. Sieve All purpose flour before mixing it with Milk Cheese. This will ensure there are no lump formations.
- If you are using Arrowroot powder, Gulab Jamun can be consumed as a meal during fast (Vrat).
- If your dough becomes too soft, then add small quantity of Arrowroot or All purpose flour to it.
- If the dough is a little hard then add small quantity of clarified butter or spoonful of milk to soften it.
