Kala Jamun Recipe (Black Gulab Jamun)
Kala Jamun is a dark gulab jamun made with khoya and paneer. These are flavored with cardamom and rose water. Perfect for serving on festivals like Diwali.
Ingredients
- 200 g Khoya/mawa fine grated
- 75 g paneer fine crumbled or grated
- 3 tablespoon all purpose flour maida
- ¼ teaspoon green cardamom powder
- Scant pinch baking soda
- 1 tablespoon milk
- Oil or ghee (clarified butter) for frying
For Sugar Syrup
- 2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon rose water
- ¼ teaspoon green cardamom powder
Instructions
Make The Kala Jamun Dough
- In a large wide plate or parat, add fine grated khoya and fine crumbled paneer (chenna). Mix and mash with hands to make sure that there are no lumps. Pro Tip :- Crumble paneer very well before adding. If using store bough paneer, use malai paneer and grate it. There should not be any lump or big pieces of mawa or chenna.
- Add all purpose flour, baking soda and green cardamom to the mashed khoya and paneer.
- Add 1 tablespoon of milk and gently mix. Bring the khoya mixture together light handedly. Don't squish or squeeze. As you work the khoya, its fat will help you in bringing the dough together.
- If the mixture looks dry and crumbly, add ½ or 1 teaspoon milk to bring it together. Dough should be soft but not sticky.
- Cover the dough and let rest for 10 minutes.
Shape the Kala Jamun
- Pinch small portions of the dough. You should get 18 to 20. Pro Tip: - If you wish, you can use a food scale to make sure that your portions are of equal size. That way your kala jamuns will be of uniform size.
- Roll the portions (light handedly) between your palms to make a smooth round ball or you can also make an oblong shape.
- Keep the jamuns covered with a towel until ready to fry.
Make Sugar Syrup
- Before frying, make the sugar syrup. Combine sugar and water in a pot and set to stove. Let come to a slow boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 mins.
- When the sugar has dissolved, add the lemon juice. Cook the sugar till it becomes slightly sticky. We dont want any string consistency.
- Half way while sugar syrup is cooking, you may start frying the jamuns since we want jamuns to go in hot syrup. If either the syrup or jamuns are cold, they wont absorb and remain hard & dry.
- Set oil or ghee to heat up in a kadai or a large pot. Heat oil on a low medium flame.
- Once the syrup is sticky, switch off the stove and add cardamom powder & rose water to it. Keep near.
Deep Frying Kala Jamun
- To check the temperature of oil, drop a small portion of dough into the oil, it should come floating up slowly. If it comes up fast & sizzles, the oil is too hot.If the dough sits at the the bottom, the oil is cold.
- Gently slide 4-6 jamuns in the hot oil. Dont overcrowd the pan else the temperature wont be maintained.
- Dont use any spoon until the jamuns come floating up. If you touch them before this point, they will break.
- At first, these will look like gulab jamuns, however keep on frying and gently moving around till the jamuns are a dark color. They will plump up bit. Fry them for on all sides.
- If you have enough oil, you can keep adding 2-3 more jamuns while the previous batch attains dark color. This will help in quickly finishing the frying process. However use your judgement, the oil temperature should not drop.
- Using a slotted spoon, pick the fried kala jamuns and drain on a paper towel for few seconds.Dont let cool down.
- Immediately add to hot sugar syrup.
- Frying up all the jamuns in batches and add to syrup.
- Cover and let soak in syrup for at least 30 minutes. These need a longer soaking time than gulab jamuns due to harder skin.
- Once soaked, decorate with edible gold or dried rose petals. You can take them out of the syrup and serve dry as well. Enjoy warm or serve chilled.
Nutrition
Calories: 145kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 3gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 32mgPotassium: 4mgFiber: 0.1gSugar: 22gVitamin A: 52IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 98mgIron: 0.1mg
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