Gulab Jamun

Gulab Jamun

Ingredients for the Jamuns:

  • 8 slices White Bread
  • 1/2 cup Cashews soaked for 4 to 5 hours
  • Enough Oil for deep frying

Ingredients for the Syrup:

  • 1 ½ cups Water
  • 1 ½ cups or 250 gms Sugar
  • 5 strands of Saffron
  • 8 pods Green Cardamom deseeded and crushed
  • 1 tbsp Lemon Juice

First make the Jamuns:
Cut the crusts off the bread, put the slices into a blender and pulse them into a coarse powder. Put this into a dish and set aside.
Rinse the cashews and grind them into a smooth paste.
Slowly add the cashew paste into the bread powder and start mixing together with your fingers to form a dough..
The dough should be kneaded REALLY well, for about 5 to 7 minutes. It should remain sticky, but well combined. This is a really important part of this recipe to ensure it turns absolutely heavenly.
Set the dough aside for 5 minutes and heat up the oil for frying.
Oil your hands and roll the dough into small jamuns (or other shapes, if you’d like!)
Fry when the oil has reached exactly the right temperature. To check if it’s at the right temperature, drop one small ball of this jamun dough and make sure that it rises to the surface of the oil, releases air bubbles and does not turn brown too rapidly.
Put all the jamuns in the oil (do this delicately so the oil doesn’t splatter and burn you), flip them with a spoon when they start to get golden, take them out when they are golden brown and set them aside while you make the syrup.

Now make the Syrup:
Place the sugar, water, cardamom and saffron in a saucepan and heat it on high until it boils.
Once it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, and add the lemon juice to it. The lemon juice prevents the sugar from crystallising.
Let it simmer for another five minutes and then turn off the heat. The syrup is ready!
Put the syrup in a dish, drop the jamuns in and let it sit for at least three hours so that the jamuns soak up the syrup.

Before serving, garnish with chopped pistachios and dried rose petals.