Golab Jamun – A Favorite Bengali Dessert

It would start with me sitting on the kitchen counter.  Baba got out a large steel pan and added the dry ingredients.  I distinctly remember the box of Carnation dry milk and how it smelled and how it felt like very fine sand.  This was how we started our day making golab jamun, a dessert that is not only incredibly delicious but also very nostalgic of my childhood.

My family entertained a lot while I was growing up.  My dad would do most of the cooking for these parties and, many times, golab jamun was on the menu for dessert.  He was famous in our community for them.   We started with the dry ingredients and slowly added the milk to make the dough.  Somehow, by the time the little munchkins were fried, the syrup was ready for them to be soaked in.  How I missed seeing my dad start the syrup every time is beyond me.  We would make what seemed like hundreds of golab jamun but really it was probably a few dozen.  My father taught me how to make golab jamun not too long ago.  Coming up with a recipe was a little tricky as this has been something that he has done by eye and by feel for so many years.

Here is what I wrote down for you to try at home.  I am also still trying to master this dish.  Let’s work on it together.

Ingredients:

Water

Sugar

Whole Cardamom (optional)

Instant Dry Milk

Pancake/Baking Mix (like Bisquick)

Heavy Whipping Cream

Vegetable or Canola Oil

 

Directions:

 

1. Start the simple syrup by putting 2 cups of sugar and 4 cups of water in a saucepan and boil over medium heat. Stir occasionally. When the water boils, reduce the heat to a low boil until the liquid has reduced by half. Keep the syrup at a warm temperature.

   

   (Optional flavoring – break a few cardamom pods and boil them with your simple syrup ingredients.)

 

2. Begin to make the dough.  In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of the dry milk and 1 cup of Bisquick.

   

 

3. Next, add the whipping cream a little bit at a time and mix with the dry ingredients until all is well combined. The dough will be sticky.

   

 

4. After the dough is made, Roll 1-inch balls out of the dough. If the dough seems dry and the balls are cracking or breaking, add a little more whipping cream. This will make about 2-dozen golab jamun.

   

 

5. Then, in a deep pan, heat oil to about 270 degrees Fahrenheit. There should be enough oil to submerge the dough balls.  Do not overcrowd your pan.  The dough will expand.

 

6. Deep fry a few of the dough balls for about 10 minutes. Rotate the munchkins as they are frying.

   

 

7. Remove the golab jamun and add them to the warm syrup. Let the golab jamun soak up the syrup before serving.

   

 

8. Finally, serve the golab jamun warm with some extra syrup on top. Indulge and enjoy this classic Bengali dessert!