Gulab jamun is a sweet confectionery or dessert, originating in the Indian subcontinent, and a type of mithai popular in Indian cuisine, Bangladesh, Nepalese cuisine, Pakistan, the Maldives, as well as Burmese cuisine. It is also common in nations with substantial populations of people with South Asian heritage, such as Mauritius, Fiji, Gulf states, the Malay Peninsula, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, South Africa, and the Caribbean (Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname).
It is made mainly from milk solids, traditionally Khoa, which is milk reduced to the consistency of a soft dough. Modern recipes call for dried or powdered milk instead of khoya. It is often garnished with dried nuts, such as and , to enhance flavour.
Preparation
In the Indian subcontinent, milk and cheese solids are prepared by heating milk over a low flame until the water content has evaporated and only the milk solids, known as
khoya, remain. The solids are kneaded with flour (maida), and small balls of this dough are deep-fried in oil or
ghee (clarified butter) at a low temperature,
then soaked in a light
sugar syrup flavored with green
cardamom and
rose water,
kewra or
saffron.
Hot gulab jamun is often served with vanilla ice cream, or
kulfi.
Origins
According to culinary historian Michael Krondl, 12th-century
Manasollasa mentions a recipe for fried fritter balls made of
chenna cheese and rice flour and soaked in cardamom-scented syrup, but this recipe did not use rosewater (gulab) syrup.
The 13th century Arab dessert
Loukoumades is similar in appearance to gulab jamun, although it is made of entirely different batter from gulab jamun but was soaked in rosewater-scented (gulab) syrup, the only Persian connection may be the common use of rosewater syrup.
Gulab Jamun emerged in medieval India during the
Mughal Empire, blending Persianate influence with local influences that eventually became gulab jamun.
The word "gulab" is derived from the
Persian language words
gul (flower) and
āb (water), referring to the
rose water-scented syrup, and "Jamun" or "jaman" is the
Hindi word for
Syzygium jambolanum, an Indian fruit with a similar size and shape, commonly known as black plum.
Jamun is also defined as a fried delicacy in sugar syrup.
Special occasions
Gulab jamun is often eaten at festivals, birthdays or major celebrations such as marriages, the Muslim celebrations of
Eid ul-Fitr and
Eid al-Adha, and the Hindu festivals of
Diwali and
Ganesh Chaturthi. There are various types of
gulab jamun.
File:Gulab jamun , chenna payesh.jpg|Gulab jamun in a glass
File:Gulab Jamun2.jpg|Gulab jamun often comes with chashni
File:GulaabJamun.JPG|Served with saffron
File:Gulab Jamun Delhi.JPG|With vark
File:Gulaab Jamoon.jpg|Two pieces of Gulab jamun
File:Mini Gulab Jamun.jpg|Mini Gulab Jamun
Variants
India
Gulab jamun gets its brownish red colour because of the sugar content in the milk powder (
khoya). In other types of
gulab jamun,
sugar is added in the batter, and after frying, the sugar
caramelization gives it its dark, almost
black colour, which is then called
kala jamun or "black jamun". The sugar syrup may be replaced with (slightly) diluted
maple syrup for a
gulab jamun.
Homemade gulab jamun is usually made up of khoya, a pinch of all-purpose flour/refined wheat flour/ wheat flour (optional), baking powder and clarified butter (ghee); milk kneaded to form a dough, moulded into balls, deep fried and dropped into simmering sugar syrup.
In Bengali, Gulab Jamun is known as Kalo Jam or Pantua, which is similar to gulab jamun, and could be called a Bengali variant of that dish.
Katangi, a town near Jabalpur is famous for "Jhurre Ka Rasgulla", which has been made there for the past 100 years.[ उसमें प्राण जगाओ साथी- 3, मायाराम सुरजन, Deshbandhu, 2009-11-12, जबलपुर-दमोह के बीच कटंगी के रसगुल्ले, 1959] It is several times the size of normal gulab jamuns and is prepared in local desi ghee.
In Rajasthan, instead of soaking gulab jamun balls in sugar syrup, they are cooked in gravy made from spices, nuts and tomato to make popular Gulab Jamun ki Sabzi.
In Western Madhya Pradesh and Malwa, Mawa Bati is popular as local version of Gulab Jamun.
It is different from Gulab jamun by size, fillings and amount of sweetness, Mawa bati is usually not immersed in Sugar syrup and slightly larger than Gulab Jamun.
Bangladesh
In
Bangladesh,
Pantua is available almost everywhere throughout the country, which can be referred to a
variation of Gulab jamun. Also there are two kinds of jamuns that are famous. They are Golap Jam (গোলাপ জাম) and Kalo Jam (কালো জাম).
Nepal
The sweet is known as Lal Mohan (लालमोहन) in Nepali language and is available at almost every sweet shop. The sale of the sweet usually increases significantly during festivals such as Tihar and
Dashain.
See also
External links
