Gulab Jamun

This is a special post to me ...yes its my 50th post :-).I wish to thank everyone who have encouraged me and also today is my Dad's Birthday.I am sending these Gulab Jamuns as a virtual treat and wishing him many more Happy returns of this day.
           Coming to the recipe,I had many misses when making Gulab Jamuns using the ready made mix.Though everyone say its so simple,somehow I missed either in the frying part or making over-sticky sugar syrup and so on.Then I decided to try it from the scratch and there were so many recipes using milk powder,Khoa/mawa when I searched in the net.I picked up this recipe from here as I wanted to try with simple,easily available ingredients and the video was so helpful.I got perfect Gulab Jamuns and I am hooked to this recipe now.I have made it a couple of times to see whether I get consistent result each time before posting here and if you follow the recipe exactly you will definitely get Soft,tasty Gulab Jamuns.

Ingredients:

Milk powder	½ cup
Maida	2 tblsp
Baking soda	¼ tsp
Ghee	1 tblsp
Yogurt	2 tblsp
Oil	For deep frying
For the Sugar Syrup
Sugar	1  cup
Water	1 ¼ cup
Rose essence	1 tsp

Method:

• Take a bowl and add all the dry ingredients and mix well.Add ghee and mix well.Now add yogurt 1 tblsp at a time and mix well.You will get a slightly sticky dough.Cover and keep aside for 5 mins.
• After 5 mins,You can easily handle the dough to make Jamuns.Grease little ghee to your hands and make small balls of the dough.The main thing to note here is to make the balls smooth without any cracks.
• Heat a kadai with oil.
• Take a pan ,add sugar and water and once the sugar dissolves let it come to a rolling boil,now reduce the flame to the lowest and switch off after 5 mins.Add rose essence and mix well.
• Once the oil is heated,test by dropping a small ball of Jamun,Once dropped it should sit at the bottom for few seconds and then slowly come up.
• This is the right temperature,slowly add 4 to 5 jamuns in one batch and fry them evenly to light golden colour.
• Drain them on paper towels.
• While you fry the second batch,drop the first batch of jamuns to the sugar syrup(slightly warm it up by keeping in low flame) and continue with the rest of the Jamuns.Give a minimum standing time of 1 or 2 hrs before serving.

Note:

• Frying the Jamuns in the correct temperature ensures its cooked well properly and evenly.If you fry them at high temperature,the outside browns too fast and inside will be undercooked and it will not yield soft jamuns.
• You can start making the Sugar syrup just before frying the first batch. Once it comes to a rolling boil,simmer for 4-5 mins and switch off.
• The original recipe uses 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water for the sugar syrup but I have reduced here as I preferred that way.
• Again when dropping the fried jamuns to the syrup,heat the syrup to the lowest flame.The main thing to note is the syrup should be hot for the jamuns to absorb it nicely.
• The above quantity yields 10 to 15 Jamuns.
• I have used full fat milk powder here.
• The good thing is you can easily scale it to half and do a small batch and moreover this is totally free from any preservative.