Gulab Jamun | Easy Sweet Potato Gulab Jamun Recipe | Diwali Sweet (2024)

FAQs

How to reduce sweetness in gulab jamun? ›

My biggest issue with gulab jamuns is that they can be too sweet. Typically folks use a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water; however, as the syrup thickens it gets even sweeter. My recipe uses a 4:5 ratio of sugar to water. This means that for every 1 cup of sugar there are 1.25 cups of water, which yields a less sweet syrup.

Gulab jamun is an Indian dessert of fried dough balls that are soaked in a sweet, sticky sugar syrup. As per tradition, the syrup has a delicate rose flavour: Gulab means 'rose water' and jamun refers to a berry of a similar size and colour.

How to Make Food Less Sweet. Add an acid or seasonings such as vinegar or citrus juice; chopped fresh herbs; a dash of cayenne pepper; or, for sweet dishes, a bit of liqueur or espresso powder.

The Fix: Tone down an overly sweet dish by adding a sour, salty, or bitter ingredient to it. Sour fruit (such as blackberries or cherries), cooling herbs such as mint, and chopped nuts work well in sweets such as cakes, cookies, and pies.

If the sugar syrup is too thick, the Gulab Jamun balls will find it difficult to absorb the syrup and so will stay dry and hard from within! So, after sugar syrup starts boiling check it, it should feel STICKY like OIL but should still have a WATERY consistency. Remove sugar syrup from heat immediately at this stage.

Traditionally ghee is used to fry the gulab jamuns. However you can also use oil. Alternately you can also add a few tbsps of ghee to the oil while you fry. This will give a similar flavour as the ghee fried gulab jamuns.

Transfer fried jamuns to saucepan of scented syrup, and cover. Repeat process with remaining dough balls. Let jamuns soak in the syrup, covered, for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. (After the initial 4-hour soak, the gulab jamuns can be transferred along with the syrup to the refrigerator.)

After frying, the gulab jamun balls are soaked in a sugar syrup flavored with cardamom and often rose water, which gives the dessert its signature sweet and floral taste. The syrup also gives the gulab jamun a beautiful moist and spongy texture.

Gulab Jamun literally translated to rose berries, while rose means gulab and jamun are deep purple colour berries. It is a milk-solid-based sweet from the Indian subcontinent, popular in India. It is made mainly from milk solids, traditionally from Khoya, which is milk reduced to the consistency of a soft dough.

With ghee it tastes the best. If you are health conscious, frying in REFINED sunflower, rice bran or soyabean oil is also fine as these oils do not have strong/pungent odor. Use only refined oils and not filtered ones as the latter have strong aroma which might not go well with a sweet like gulab jamun.

Can I use butter instead of ghee in Gulab Jamun? ›

Traditionally, ghee or clarified butter is used for frying the gulab jamun. But you can use any neutral oil for frying.

Fix That Dough: "A pinch of arrowroot, corn flour or even baking powder is my go to ingredient while kneading the dough to ensure that the Gulab Jamuns don't disintegrate during frying."

1. Balance with acidity: Add a small amount of lemon juice, vinegar, or another acidic ingredient to counteract the sweetness. 2. Dilute: Increase the volume of the dish by adding more of the other ingredients (e.g., water, broth, vegetables) to dilute the sweetness.

I love white chocolate ganache but I usually find it way too sweet. I found that using sour cream instead and adding some apple cider vinegar and salt gives an almost cheesecake-like flavour to my ganache and drops the sweetness out while boosting the flavour.

The citrus is naturally acidic, which helps to counteract sweetness. Start out with a small amount and taste it to ensure that you don't go over the top and end up with a mouth-puckering smoothie. If you don't have any lemons on hand, a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar will also suffice.

In work with a variety of foods (soups, rice, eggs, and potato chips), salt was found to improve the perception of product thickness, enhance sweetness, mask metallic or chemical off-notes, and round out overall flavor while improving flavor intensity (Gillette, 1985).