Don't Feel Guilty. Treat Yourself To Piping Hot Gulab Jamuns

Any list of top five Indian sweets is incomplete without gulab jamun. This melt-in-your-mouth sweet has a timeless appeal, so much so that a gulab jamun counter at an Indian wedding draws the maximum crowd. 

Who invented gulab jamun? 

There is no one authoritative account on who invented this sweet delicacy. One of the more popular stories credits the invention to a royal chef of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. Legend has it that the ‘khansama’ accidentally made gulab jamun while drawing inspiration from Persian dessert recipes. A piping hot gulab jamun is best savoured with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. 

How is gulab jamun made?

Gulab jamun is traditionally made with khoya or milk solids. The khoya is kneaded with flour (you can add a spoonful of milk), pieces of the dough are given the shape of small balls and fried until they turn golden brown. These balls are then dipped in hot sugar syrup that is usually flavoured with cardamom. For garnishing, you can use saffron or chopped pistachios.

Cousins of gulab jamun

Different states have their own take on this popular dessert. In West Bengal, for instance, it is called pantua. Kala jamun is another popular variant—the dark brown colour is a result of the sugar added to the dough before deep-frying. In some states, the dough is stuffed with coconut too. 

Make it at home

You can prepare delicious gulab jamuns at home. Either you can start from the scratch or use a gulab jamun mix to jump to the easy part of just kneading the dough with milk and deep-frying the gulab jamuns.