Gulab Jamun Recipe | Soft Gulab Jamun (Mawa & Milk powder)

Gulab Jamun Recipe made with khoya or milk powder – A complete step by step guide with video, tips and tricks, troubleshooting & faq. Gulab jamuns are melt in mouth delicious balls of heaven made traditionally with khoya. It can be made with milk powder for easy recipe which makes it perfect for any festive occasions like Diwali or other festive gatherings. Fried Gulab jamuns are soaked in cardamom, saffron scented syrup to make it melt in mouth taste even more delicious when served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Learn how to make delicious soft gulab jamun with step by step pictures and video.

Gulab Jamun

Yay. It is Jamun time. I can never stop making jamuns, they are like super cute and super tasty ones for any occasions. Fried milk balls soaked in a rose, cardamom and saffron scented syrup is the elaborate description for jamuns.

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In this blog post, I have shared 2 ways of making gulab jamun from scratch. One with milk powder and other with khoya. This no fuss jamun recipe which is made easily and it taste just divine. You just need a handful of ingredients to make this jamun and every time it turns out super good. I have shared few options of gulab jamun recipe on this blog including paneer jamun, sweet potato jamun and potato jamun. Still confused, here is your guide to gulab jamun recipe.

What is Gulab Jamun?

Gulab jamun is a milk-solid-based dessert that is popular in India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Maldives (where it is called gulab ki janu), Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Jamuns is made with milk solids or milk powder, plain flour, milk or yogurt or baking soda.

Gulab jamun is traditionally made with khoya, modern recipes substitute for dry or powdered milk. To improve the flavour, it is frequently garnished with dried nuts such as almonds and cashews. Jamun dough is shaped into small balls, deep fried and soaked in a cardamom, saffron scented syrup to create a melt in mouth dessert.

About Gulab Jamun (with khoya & milk powder)

Gulab jamun is a melt in mouth dessert which is made with milk solids mixed with plain flour to form a dough. The dough is shaped into small balls and fried till crispy. These golden fried balls is soaked in syrup to create melt in mouth desserts. The world “gulab” means “rose” and “jamun”means “berry”. Traditionally jamuns is shaped into small berry shape and is soaked in rose flavoured sugar syrup.

Authentic gulab jamun is made with khoya which is obtained by reducing milk to create milk solids. But few recipes uses milk powder for more convenience. Jamuns made with milk powder can create slightly different textured jamun than ones made with khoya. But both taste great.

Khoya or mawa can be easily made at home or can be bought readymade from stores. Traditionally in India, khoya is made by simmering milk for hours to create milk solids which is called as khoya or mawa. But the process is tedious and time consuming. So I like to opt store bought khoya. I have already shared 1 minute khoya recipe on the blog.

These jamuns soaks up the syrup beautifully and gets so soft. Loved it to the core. Did you know you can make cakes out of gulab jamun, check out my gulab jamun cake and gulab jamun cake mix cake.

Similar Recipes

Paneer Gulab Jamun Recipe
Bread Jamun
Kala Jamun

Watch Gulab Jamun Recipe Video

Gulab Jamun Ingredients

For Gulab Jamun Dough (with khoya & milk powder)

Khoya – Homemade khoya or store bought khoya is easy way to make gulab jamun at home. it gives the right texture to the gulab jamuns and make it so soft and melt in mouth.

Milk powder – Milk powder is used in making homemade gulab jamuns to get the proper texture.

All Purpose Flour – All-purpose flour is used to bind the khoya or milk powder to make dough. Don’t add too much plain flour else the jamuns will turn tough and dense.

Baking Soda – a pinch of baking soda is used in the dough to make homemade gulab jamun lighter and spongier.

Salt – like all sweet recipes, you need to balance the taste with a pinch of salt. Salt helps enhance the flavour of the sweet dishes.

Sugar Syrup for Gulab Jamun

Sugar – granulated sugar is used for making syrup. It has to be cooked until sticky stage. It will usually take around 8 to 10 minutes of boiling.

Rose Water – Rose water is used to balance off more highly flavorful spices, such as saffron, and to add a high note to mellower flavours.

Cardamom – cardamom adds a floral flavour to the syrup which can be skipped if you don’t like the taste.

Saffron – a small pinch gives beautiful colour, perfume, and flavour.

Perfect Soft Gulab Jamun (Tips & Hacks)

Making gulab jamuns at home is so easy to make and taste just divine. You just need a handful of ingredients to make this jamun. Super delicious gulab jamun recipe which is so yummy and is really easy to make. It needs simple ingredients and taste so good. Perfect for parties. Fried milk balls soaked in a cardamom scented syrup is the ellaborate description for jamuns.

All About Sugar Syrup

Boil sugar and water in a sauce pan till it gets sticky. Usual ratio for sugar to water 1:1. For every 1 cup of sugar use 1 cup of water and the boiling time is around 5 to 10 mins to get sticky texture. When you touch the syrup and rub between your fingers, it should be slightly sticky.

About Jamun Dough

I have shared two version of making gulab jamun dough in this recipe. You can use khoya or milk powder for making jamun. Plain flour is added to make dough and the measurements are adjusted. Whichever way you make the jamuns taste amazing. Make sure the gulab jamun dough is soft and smooth. If you make your dough hard then the jamuns will be hard once fried and won’t absorb the syrup. Also don’t over knead the dough.

Shaping Gulab jamuns

Take small portion of dough and shape it into a smooth ball without giving any pressure. If your dough is made the right way then your gulab jamuns will the smooth and even If your jamun ball is not smooth when shaping then it may crack when you fry them.

Frying Tips

Frying gulab jamuns is one of the most important part of making jamuns. You have to fry gulab jamuns low and slow till it gets golden in colour. This way the jamuns puff and gets cooked from inside out. if you fry gulab jamuns on high heat there are chances it might get brown on outside and inside will be undercooked.

Soaking in Syrup & Serving

Your jamuns and syrup has to be hot or warm when you soak them. This way they absorb the syrup better. If you make your sugar syrup in advance, reheat them before adding fried jamun balls into it. Serve gulab jamuns hot, warm or cold. You can serve them with vanilla ice cream.

Step by Step Guide for Gulab Jamun

Sugar Syrup for Gulab Jamun

1)Take sugar in a large sauce pan. Make sure to use large pot that can fit all the fried gulab jamuns.

2)Pour water over sugar. You need to use 1 part sugar to 1 part water. I usually use 500 grams sugar to 500 ml water.

3)Bring sugar and water to a full boil. Boil this for 5 to 10 minutes till the syrup gets sticky.

4)Add in crushed cardamom. This is optional, you can skip cardamom if you don’t prefer the flavour.

5)Add in a pinch of saffron. This is for colour and flavour.

6)Add in rose extract. Rose adds so much flavour to the syrup.

7)Now the sugar syrup is ready. You can store the syrup warm until fried jamuns is soaked.

Recipe 1

Gulab Jamun with Khoya

Homemade khoya can be made easily at home. I have shared recipe for making khoya using three methods. Traditional way of making khoya, microwave khoya and instant khoya recipe. Making mawa using milk powder and milk made on stove top and microwave. No cook khoya | khoa recipe is included.