Posted by: Celene 11-10-99 9:22 AM
Burfee
Source: Madhur Jaffrey's "An Invitation to Indian Cooking"
4 c. granulated sugar
3 cardamom pods, slightly crushed (or more to taste)
2 c. powdered dry milk
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. vegetable oil (or melted unsalted butter)
1/2 c. milk
Vegetable oil for deep frying (use fresh, these will pick up least flavor in oil that has been used before)
First, make syrup; in a 4-quart pot, combine 4 c. water, sugar, and cardamom. Lower heat. Simmer 2-3 minutes, or until sugar has been dissolved. Do not stir.
Pour half the syrup into a serving bowl, about 3-quart size. Leave other half in pot with cardamom pods.
Combine powdered milk, flour, oil (or melted butter), and milk in a bowl. Make a soft dough. Make small, smooth balls out of dough, each about 1 inch in diameter. You should be able to make more than 2 dozen jamuns.
Heat oil for deep frying in wok, karhai, or any heavy-bottomed wide pot. You should have at least three inches of oil. Keep on low flame. Jamuns need to be fried slowly.
Put a jamun into oil as a test. If it begins to brown immediately, your heat is too high. Each jamun should take 4-5 minutes to get a reddish brown color on all sides. If first jamun does not turn out right, correct heat. It is better to take this precaution than have a whole batch burn outside and stay raw inside.
Now put in 6 jamuns at a time, turn them over as they turn reddish brown on one side. As they get fried, put them into syrup in pot.
Bring this syrup to a boil. Let each batch simmer in syrup five minutes. When jamun are "syruped", life them out with a slotted spoon and place them in fresh syrup in serving bowl. Keep frying and "syruping" a batch at a time-as one batch fries, another can "syrup" until they are all done.
When cool, cover serving bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Syrup in pot can now be discarded.
To serve: Gulab jamun can be served cold, at room temperature, or slightly warmed. Remember, you serve yourself only gulab jamun, not syrup in bowl.