There a very few people who don’t like Gulab Jamun, as for us, we just love them. It is a perfect dessert for any occasion – wedding, birthday party, potluck or a romantic dinner for 2! An unbelievable combination is hot, hot Gulab Jamuns with cold, cold Ice Cream…yum…just thinking about it makes our mouth water. Gotta go now, have Gulab Jamuns to make!
Ingredients:
Instant Dry Milk (Milk Powder) – 1/2 cup
All Purpose Flour – 2 tbsp
Yogurt – 2 tbsp
Clarified Butter – 1 tbsp
Baking Soda – 1/4 tsp
Water – 2 cups
Sugar – 2 cups
Rose Essence – few drops, optional
Cardamom Powder – 1/2 tsp or to taste
Saffron – few strands, optional
Oil – for deep frying
Method:
1. Make the syrup in a pan by adding Water, Sugar, Rose Syrup, Cardamom Powder and Saffron.
2. Put the pot on the flame and bring to boil. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat and allow it to simmer.
3. Meanwhile, get the oil for deep-frying ready. Heat up the oil on low-to-medium heat.
4. For the dumpling, in a mixing bowl , add in all dry ingredients i.e Instant Dry Milk , All Purpose Flour, Baking Soda.
5. Mix well and add in the Clarified Butter and after that slowly start mixing in the yogurt. Make into a dough.
6. Allow it to rest for 5 minutes. Make desired size balls, make sure they are smooth and do not have any creases.
7. Test the oil by dropping a small piece of dough, if it sits at the bottom of the pan for a minute before coming to the surface, the oil is ready.
8. Carefully drop 3-4 dumplings in the oil and keep rotating them for an even color.
9. Once the dumplings are a dark golden brown, take them out into a paper towel.
10. Bring the syrup to another quick boil and drop in the dumplings.
11. Turn off the flame and cover the Gulab Jamuns and let them soak in the syrup for 45 minutes to an hour.
12. Gulab jamuns can be served hot or cold. This recipe makes about 10-15 Gulab Jamuns.
Tips:
1. The one thing we cannot emphasis enough is the temperature of the oil for frying…it is the key to making good gulab jamuns. It has to be on low-to-medium heat.
2. The dough is a little on the crumbly side…so use a little oil on your hands and make the ball and flatten it out and then roll it to a ball…this will help smoothening out the cracks.
Hi Hetal & Anuja…
Thanks a ton for sharing the recipie for making the perfect gulab jamuns..I made it n it came out perfectly well…my husband was very very happy when I surprised him with his fav sweet…usually he finds some or other kind of fault with what i prepare..this time he couldn find anything…n I was a winner!!
hey hetal n anuja,
i love ur recipies… u make cooking so easy n enjoyable…
gud work guys..wish u success..
and i just wanna ask u that can i fry my gulab jamuns into vegetable oil..or do i need canola oil only..waiting for ur response..
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
I was planning to make gulab jamun and asked my hubby to get Carnation brand on fat free milk powd. but erroneously he got Carnation Evaporated Milk. Pl let me know if I can use it in any of your receipes. Also is it different from condensed milk ? Thanxs – Anisha
Hi Anisha,
Don’t worry, you are in luck 🙂 We have lots of recipes that call for Evaporated Milk:
Palak Paneer
Malai Kofta
Vegetable Korma
Methi Malai Mutter
Kadhai Chicken
Butter Chicken
Rava Ladoo
Kulfi
Tres Leches Cake
It’s going to hard to pick? Maybe you have to send you husband to buy more Evaporated Milk 😉
HI Hetol& Anuja,
One more time I want to say thanks a lot for the easy & simple recipe. I always want to make any kind of sweets but they never turn out good.This time I was over confedent about the gulab jamon but maybe again i did something wrong.
1.I used 0% Fage Greek plained Yogurt.
2. They got fluffy and soft after taking out from oil
3. Refrigerate in Syrup overnight( and they got hard inside and got soggy/wrinkle outside, didn’t incrase the size.)
*When it should be put in Refrigetor (I mean after put it Syrup)?
* The gulab jamon should be tottaly coverd with Syrup?
Please let me know what did I wrong ?
Hi Sharmeen,
You need to put the gulab jamuns in the hot syrup, cover it and allow them to soak in it for a while and THEN put in the refrigerator…
🙁
Thank you so much for ur quick response. Could you kindly tell me how long it should be soak into Syrup and should I put them in freezer with syrup?
If possible let me know , and I will try nxt time and let you know. thanks once again.
Hi Sharmeen,
Well, when we put the gulab jamuns in the syrup, it is at a boiling temperature…cover the pot/pan and allow the syrup and the gulab jamuns to come to room temperature. At that point you can either refrigerate it or freeze it 🙂
GJ (Gulab Jamuns) can be frozen but keep the following tips in mind:
– freeze with a good amount of syrup
– when defrosting, allow them to thaw completely and then heat at low temperature
– be very gentle and avoid a lot mixing and stirring
Hope that helps 🙂
Hi
I really like gulab jamuns…especially home made…
curretnly in Melbourne and here mava/khoya is not easily available…so could never try it..but after looking at your recipe..I feel hopeful…
wanted to ask one thing…can I deep fry them in ghee instead of oil…don’t like the idea of doing sweets in oil!
Hi Lavi,
Sorry, never made Gulab Jamuns in Ghee 🙁 Use a neutral flavor light oil and I think you’ll be happy with the results.
How to make dry gulab jamuns?
Hi guys,
I wanted to ask you if i could use sour cream instead of yogurt. Please reply!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thankss in advance.
Sincerely,
13yrl girrl that loves to cook
Hi Diana,
Sorry, we have never tried it with Sour Cream and think it may give the dish a little sour flavor… 🙁
thank you for the recipe, it turned out delicious! I decided to make a second batch so I took out the first one from the syrup, transfered to a bowl and poured some syrup on top. It remained soft, however after that the new batch hardened as I repeated the process of boiling the syrup. Next time I wont do that!
Hi Na,
Lesson learnt for us too 🙁
Its right, the milkpowder (brand TRS) does not work for gulab jamuns (with te recipe from here). Other mithai like barfi is no problem with this brand.
Greets,
Maltie
I tried this recipe with the milkpowder wich you can buy at de local Indian store (TRS). BUT this milkpowder doen not work! I Triend so many times with this milkpowder but it goes everytime wrond. So I swiched the milkpowder.
Here in The Neterhlands they dont sell non fat milkpowder.
With my new milkpowder (NIDO, full cream), it works PERFECT!! Mere English sjaada thiek nahin hai, so sorry for that 🙂
Hi There,
Thanks for your feedback 🙂 And aap ki English bilkul badiya hai 🙂 Sorry kehne ki koi zaroorat nahin 😉
hi Anuja and Hetal
very very nice recipe
I tried this today, Gulab jamuns were so soft and tasty.
Thank you
Namita
Dear Hetal and Anuja, Three questions for you lovely ladies:
1. What oil do you normally use to make your Gulab Jamans?
2. What do you say to using the traditional fat – ghee?
3. Can ghee be reused or should it be thrown away after a frying session?
Thank you so much!
Hi Renu,
Answers to your questions:
1. We use Canola Oil for frying and for most of our cooking.
2. Ghee for frying? Personally we have never tried it and, honestly, don’t intend to either. Ghee for cooking? We do use it (sparingly). Some dishes just need that flavor while others can do without it 🙂
3. Refer to #2 – and we’d be devastated to have to waste the unused ghee 🙁
The above response is just our opinion but pl. do what you feel fit!
hello,
please can you put your recipes in grams or even ounces. Cup measurements are not popular here in Europe.
Thanks
1 cup is ca 240ml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_%28unit%29
hi hetal and anuja
Now its all clear it was great all the fans should try it.It tastes owesome i have done it properly this time thank you so much. will pls do and show us caramel custard
As regards to dry milk and baking powder, I am sure this dish should be old enough to be made without this ingridients. Don’t you think so? Any ideas or ways to modify back to the ages ago version 🙂 ?
vidhu
sorry i forget to ask one more question that is bicarbonate of soda means baking soda or baking powder and dough should be stickly or it should be tight like for puri pls reply soon so that i can make it earlier
Hi Vidhya,
Soda Bicarbonate is baking soda. Baking powder has baking soda in it, plus other ingredients. The dough is not too sticky but not rubbery like puri. After letting it rest for a few minutes, it stiffens up so that it is not sticky at all.
hi hetal
thank you so much hetal.I tried the recipes but after putting the dough in the oil it dissolves in it and it was sticking to the pan whats the actuall problem and coffee creamer is called milk powder or it is diffeerent
Hi Vidhya,
Coffee creamer is not the same as milk powder. You have to buy Instant non-fat dry milk.
vidhu
Hi anuja and hetal
would u pls say a subsitute for yougrut shall we use other cream or something like that. I like to do this recepies soon for my child but he doesnt like yougrut so pls suggest something
bye
take care
Hi Vidhya,
The yogurt is such a small amount that your child will not even know its there (you cannot taste it). It provides the acid needed for the baking soda (soda bi-carb) to react.
Hi,
Thanks for this wonderful vdo. I tried it last and it came out really good. But the only problem is the sweets r a bit hard. I mean the surface is ok but inside its kinda hard. Can you plz tell how to improve???
what is the difference between baking soda and baking powder? I used baking powder!
Thanks,
Anila
Hi Anila,
Please see our video on the difference between baking soda and baking powder…there is a difference.
https://34.233.61.50/tips/baking-soda-vs-baking-powder-tuesday-tip.html
hi Hetal & Anuja,
phyllo dough for making baklava.please show this video & other uses of this dough.any sweet & spice recipe.thanks.
Hi Nalini,
We will put that on our list 🙂
Thanks for your feedback!
Hi Hetal Anuja,
Can milk powder be replaced with Milk Mawa that is available in Grocery Stores
Hi there,
With this recipe we have never tried it. However we know other people who do use it. Let us know your feedback if you do try it out!
Whenever I make Jamuns they turned out tooooo soft. I don’t know why? what could be the reason? I even tried with the mix.
I’ve got a surefire way of making Gulab Jamuns. Instead of flour, I use dry milk.
1 cup dry milk
1 egg
1 tbspoon of oil
1/2 teaspoon of Baking powder
Mix well. And form in small balls. Heat oil on the lowest heat possible and fry the balls. Deep fry of course.
Then toss them right into your sugar syrup.
Sugar syrup goes like 2 cups sugar and 3.5 cups of water.
That’s it.
It tastes better and is sure to come right.
I’m sorry but I didn’t really make anything of your recipe. Every time I made it, something came wrong in it.
What is all purpose flour? what are the ingredients of it?
Hi Gautam,
All-purpose flour is also known as maida. It is wheat flour that has been refined.
Hey folks,
It’s kinda weird. I tried making this a couple of times and its either raw from the inside or it won’t get ‘big’ as you said in the video.
I checked the oil temprature and yes, its fine.
What’s the problem? I’m like totally into Gulab Jamuns but it just won’t come out right.
Plus, I use fat-free yoghurt … is that a mistake?
Thanks y’all.
i am a die hard fan of this site…this site offers us the delicious of dishes in the simplest of forms…i tried a good number of the recipes at home and it was finger licking though not at the first place…gradually it improved…the description is so specific…
love & god bless u both-Hetal & Anuja…i adore them…
Thanks so much Nafisa!
Hi. I just wanted to thank you both for sharing this recipe with us. I haven’t tried the gulab jamun’s yet, but I will soon. I make Arab desserts sometimes and sugar syrup is also used. I think that for a hot dessert you should use cold sugar syrup and vice-versa for a cold dessert – this helps the desserts soak the sugar syrup.
Hi, Hetal and Anuja,
I m living in CT, USA.
and yes Hetal , like you i am also patel from surat.
which part of gujarat u r from?
sorry, but i just so happy to see another patel girl in usa. thats why I put this comment.
I can see that u made a lot desi gujarati homefood like vagareli bhakhri and vagarelo bhat.
I m so happy about u.do you know gujarati language ?
Reply whenever u get time .
aavjo.
Hi Miral,
Thanks for writing. It was nice to hear from you. Some of my family lives in Baroda/Ahmedabad area, though I have not stayed there. Yes, I can speak gujarati fluently. Did you come from India recently? Hope you are enjoying ShowMeTheCurry.
THANKS HETAL FOR YOUR REPLY.
I BEEN HERE FOR 2AND HALF YEAR.
YES , I M ENJOYING YOUR RECIPES.
SOME OF THEM I MADE AND COME OUT EXCELLENT.
THANKS.AND GOOD LUCK IN YOUR WORK.
Hi Hetal/Anuja,
Can baking soda be skipped in making gulab jamuns? And can fat free mountain high yogurt be used in this?
Please do reply.
Thanks!
Vidya
Hi, Did U forget to reply my queries??
I made your recipe today. It was my first attempt, not only at making Gulab Jamun, but also at deep frying. I used a small saucepan and filled it up about 2-3 inches with Canola oil. The only problem that I had was they Gulab Jamuns stuck to the bottom of the pan and burned in the spot that was stuck to the pan. Is there something I was doing wrong? They look great, otherwise and taste really good. Thanks for the great recipe.
P.S. for anyone with Gluten Sensitivities, I used Gluten Free Flour in place of wheat flour and it worked beautifully.
Hi Michelle,
Maybe you did not have enough oil in your pan. When deep frying soft things like gulab jamun, you should have enough oil in the pan so that they don’t touch the bottom. Also, if your oil was not hot enough, the balls will drop to the bottom of the pan and hang out there instead of immediately bouncing up and floating. Thanks for the feedback and tip on the Gluten Free Flour. I’m sure it’ll be helpful to many.
Thank you, Hetal. I will try to make them again using your tips. Could you tell me at what temperature the oil should be? I had a thermometer in the oil and it was around 280 degrees Fahrenheit when I cooked mine.
Thanks again for your lovely videos and recipes.
Michelle, thank you for being brave enough to try with GF flour. what did you use, please? i miss gulab jamun, and have been so sad at the thought of never eating them again… oh, and thank you anuja and hetal for posting in the first place!
Hi Robin,
Hope you’ve had a chance to see our “Gluten Free Gulab Jamun” video and recipe. 🙂
Dear Hetal and Anuja.
It is so nice to watch ur videos before I plan to cook some sp dish.I do prepare GJ from hariyali khoya and chenna with excellent results.I always wanted to try GJ from milk powder, as sometimes we get adulterated khoya esp during festive seasons in India.Ur videos has inspired me always and given good results on first trial also.
U have used fat free milk powder.Any reason??Can we use whole milk powder from Amul?? Purpose of adding curd?
If we use cream or butter in place of cl butter,still curd will be needed??
Sorry for asking so many q.
One sugg: U both look very good and have a good chemistry. I req u to try wearing formal or traditional dresses in ur videos occasionally.
Regards
Dr Rajesh
Hello Dr. Rajesh,
We use the non-fat milk powder because that is what we have available here in the US. We have not tried this recipe with the full fat milk powder. The curd gives good texture to the jamuns but you can substitute milk. We usually have a really busy schedule (with lots of cooking and cleaning) so it is just more convenient to wear simple clothes.
Cheers!
hai friends can u tell me how to make keemah with green peas? recently i had a dinner from a pakistani hotel and got this meal ………i dont remember what was it called!
Hi Mershy,
Here is our version of Keema Matar: https://34.233.61.50/non-vegetarian/keema-matar-indian-minced-meat-recipe.html
whats the first thing u added before adding the powdered milk???
Powdered Milk was the first ingredient, followed by all-purpose flour and baking soda.
Very delicious gulab jamuns! I was nervous about the oil temperature and the balls not cooking thoroughly, but no worries! The only thing I did differently was use 1 Tbsp yogurt (Brown Cow’s Greek Yogurt). It was quite thick and when I mixed in that first Tbsp, the dough became that really sticky, crumbly texture that Hetal mentioned. Thanks so much ladies! I can’t wait to keep cooking up with you guys.
HI HItal @ Anuja
First of all i thank for you guys to teaching how to prepare gulab jamun. Actually im a sri lankan and i have never seen gulab jamun n never ate one. but thank for u i made by my self and ate 🙂 it came very nicely and yummy. I had very good respond from my husban and my parents too. thank u very much n keep it up.
Hi ladies,
Still waiting for a response..
I loved the detailed instructions you gave, especially about having the heat very low. My gulab jamuns were fine and looked beautiful, tasted nice, but tasted of milk powder if you know what I mean. I am trying to acheive the smooth taste that gulab jamuns in India do. How do I achieve that? Would using khoya instead of milk powder help?
Great website!
Thanks
Nidhi
Hi Nidhi,
Sorry for the delay. You are probably sensitive to the flavor of milk powder (many people are) so you taste it first. Khoya would work, but it is a long process to make it and the proportions would be very different from the recipe we’ve given here.
Thanks Hetal for your reply. If you get a chance( given your busy schedule), please send me a recipe that uses khoya.
Best
Nidhi
I loved the detailed instructions you gave, especially about having the heat very low. My gulab jamuns were fine and looked beautiful, tasted nice, but tasted of milk powder if you know what I mean. I am trying to acheive the smooth taste that gulab jamuns in India do. How do I achieve that? Would using khoya instead of milk powder help?
Great website!
Thanks
Nidhi
hi
thnx 4 the great recepie…
i was wondering if you could use homemade Yogurt insted of store…and if we need a little bit of milk after adding Yogurt, how much milk should we take, in measurements? thnx…=)
I was making it for my daughter’s birthday party tommorrow.. 🙁 please reply as soon as possible
Hi Vibha,
Feel really bad for you! Happy Birthday to your daughter! Anyway, when God gives you lemon, make lemonade…
Here is our suggestion:
Try and remove the syrup as much as possible. Warm it up, then layer some in a bowl, put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and top it with some crushed nuts. It should taste real good and you can give it a really fancy name.
Enjoy the party:)
hello,
Nice receipe.. next time i will try this.. but as of now i need ur help.. i just made gulab jamuns from MTR mix n it has turned out to be a disaster..all of it is looking like a halwa 🙁 .. i was wondering how can i serve this gulab jamun.. is it a good idea to put a layer of this jamuns n then one layer of evaporated milk n some dry fruit?
please reply..
I have a request. I love Kala jams. so can you please show us the recipe for that???
thanx a lot. I appreciate u respond, this idea would help me in finishing the packet
dnt u reply to all d queries? if possible reply to this
Hi Noor,
Sorry for the delay in response. Just getting back from a long vacation and trying to catch up with a couple of hundred questions :).
Unfortunately, we only get non-fat milk powder so we’ve never used full fat milk powder in any recipes. My suggestion would be to use it as creamer for coffee or for your kid’s hot chocolate. Sorry couldn’t be of more help.
Hi hetal and anuja,
I cm to knw the problem, by mistake i bought full fat cream milk powder, i think this was the main problem in my desserts,it turned my cashew burfi very hard and my gulab jamuns were pichku,u knw like balloons without air in it… i hope u r getting me?
Now can u suggest me any recipe with ths milk powder, plz.i dnt want to throw away the whole packet. plz reply soon.. its realy very urgent.
Hi and thank you all of the great recipes on your web site.
While shopping my local Indian grocery last week I ran across a canned version of Gulab Jumun. Beside it on the shelf was another Jumun [The name escapes me] which contained coco powder as an ingredent.Would the recipe be the same as Gulab with just the addition of the coco? Would you use the same sauce? Thank you for any input you can provide.
I have tried making gulab jamuns a couple of times now and the dough is always perfect but as soon as I put the balls in the oil to deep-fry, the dough shatters apart! Please advice on this.
Thanks.
its d same with n iwz looking for a similar comment so dat i could see d solution for it but ther’s no reply for ur question!!…my gulab jamun balls just shattered away as soon as i put them in d oil!
Hi. I just made gulab jamin yesturday and its already been eaten…the thing is is that i have a lot of syrup still left over…what can i do with it…can i reuse it for more gulab jamin…can i heat it up again to a boil and drop new fryed balls in it?thnx…i really hate to waste it cuz its a lot
hi
that recipie is brilliant
thanks