Gulab Jamun

Diwali is just at the doorstep and so is the news about food adulteration! There is so much said about the harmful, or rather noxious ‘Mithaiyaan’ we consume assuming to be auspicious on this occasion. Let’s not hurt the festival sentiment anymore and take little steps that not just ensure self satisfaction but also assure less damage to our health this Diwali. If you think the festival doesn’t go well without sweets, let’s just try some at home. I have some amazingly easy Indian mithaiyaan recipes to share, but the schedule is running to tight right now, as cooking isn’t the only thing on my mind today! Apart from thinking about all the sweetmeats I can prepare at home to please my sweet-toothed family, I also have a plan to make Rangoli, decorate the house and light up everything bright and brilliant. The day was long and hard. Thorough cleaning of the entire house almost took away my entire day, and then some flower decoration, lighting the house and trousseau designing the gate made me too late to come and share recipes like coconut ladoo, jalebi, and gujiyaa that i so wanted to write about anyway, lets just celebrate the festival as of now, but we'll surely discuss them some time soon. Gulab Jamun for now! 

I had this Gulab jamun recipe on my mind to share with all my readers. After all, your emails and responses are no less important than the festival to me. So I’ll just quickly jot down the essentials for you to try tomorrow. Don’t worry, this one too is a fool-proof recipe that you can try on the occasion itself. No prior practicing required here! And then, you can any time flaunt- 'you always knew it all!!'

Go on.. amaze you family! There’s nothing like home-made Mithaiyaan.

Ingredients that we require for making Gulab Jamun:

1 cup dairy whitener

½ cup maida

½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp melted butter

½ cup milk

Sugar syrup (you can make make sugar by boiling 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water. You can also add flavours like kesar and cardamom)

Refined Oil for frying

Method:

Mix together dairy whitener, maida, and baking powder. Add enough milk to form hard dough. Cover and leave for 20 minutes for dough to season.

Prepare the sugar syrup till then. You can opt for flavors like cardamom, kesar, rose or kewda, whatever comes handy or is your/ your family’s preference.

Heat the oil in a skillet. Knead the dough once again. Make approximately 20 round balls with this dough. You can also choose to give them long, cylindrical shape but try to maintain the shape and size.

Fry these balls in hot oil, but keep the flame to medium until they start floating.  Once these balls swell twice in size and start floating in the oil, you can increase the flame and wait for the colour to change. Once the colour changes to dark brown, you can remove them from oil and keep on a kitchen paper to do away with the excess oil.

While they are still hot, dip them in the sugar syrup.  Simmer fro 5minutes till the balls absorb enough sugar syrup and turn soft and luscious. Sere either piping hot or chilled.