A bit of Bollywood ~ Sasha

Like most South Africans, I do fancy a curry on a cold winter’s night – I’m not sure how many of us are not so fond of the burn aspect of the curry though. So, when I make my own, I omit the chilli called for in the recipe and just use the garam masala which makes for a very mild, but very flavourful curry!

But that’s not what I’m here to share…

My favourite Indian sweet treat has got to be the delectable Gulab Jamun! Below is a recipe of this delicious treat that Yudhika Sujanani shared with me and our Avocado readers. We call the salivating effect that the gulab jumuns have on our mouths the “om-nom-nom” factor!

Gulab Jamun

These are irresistible. I always make up an extra batch as they are generally eaten as soon as they come out of the syrup. I make them once a year as a diet precaution because I could never say no to one of these treats. The best way to describe them would be to say that they are a cross between a koeksister and a coconut doughnut. They keep for a week in an airtight container.  

Recipe

Ingredients:

1 tin 395g condensed milk

30ml water

30ml butter or ghee, melted

30ml semolina

10ml baking powder

2,5ml bicarbonate of soda

2,5ml ground cardamom

500ml cake flour

Sunflower oil for deep frying

Desiccated coconut for sprinkling

Syrup:

750ml sugar

500ml water

1 cinnamon stick

Here's how:

1 To make syrup: Combine sugar and water in a thick bottomed pot. Stir the ingredients together. Boil until the sugar dissolves into a thin syrup. Remove from heat.

2 Sift flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Place oil in a pot on low heat.

3 Pour condensed milk into a mixing bowl. Pour 30ml water into the empty tin and stir. This will “rinse” the tin and ensure that you get all the condensed milk out.

4 Mix in the melted butter, ground cardamom and semolina. At this point you should turn the oil up to a medium heat setting.  

5 Stir in the sifted dry ingredients and gently mix until a soft dough forms. Leave a few sticky patches in the dough as this will help when the dough starts to dry out.   

6 Wash hands before moving on to the next step. Grease your palms with a little oil. Grease a baking tray with non stick spray.

7 Mould small amounts of dough into balls and then immediately into fingers. 8 Place the fingers onto the greased baking tray.  

9 Fry the fingers over a medium heat. The fingers should swell. Reduce the heat to prevent the fingers from burning.

10 Keep syrup warm for dipping. Turn the fingers regularly to prevent them from browning unevenly.  

11 Remove from oil when they are a medium-golden brown.  

12 Drain in a strainer for a minute before dipping the fingers in the syrup.

13 Leave the fingers to soak in the syrup for about a minute. Place on a wire rack and sprinkle with desiccated coconut.