Simple Kala Jamun recipe
Simple Kala Jamun recipe
Kala Jamun is a North Indian dessert recipe often served on special occasions like festivals. These are lightly black coloured Indian cheese balls having many similarities with Gulab jamuns. Continued frying of jamuns at low flame gives away this dark brown texture. Like Gulab jamun, these are also dipped in sugar syrup after preparation. This recipe is named after an Indian fruit called ‘Jamun’ which is in the shape of dates with a dark purple colour. The major difference between gulab jamun and Kala jamun is the presence of Khoya along with Paneer. Have a look at the list of ingredients used and the method of preparation of sweet Kala Jamun dish.
Ingredients used in Kala Jamun recipe
For making jamun balls
- 1 cup of tightly packed khoya / dried or evaporated milk solids / mawa
- ½ cup of grated Paneer / cottage cheese
- 3 tablespoon of Maida / All-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon of milk
- Ghee or oil for frying
For making Sugar syrup
- 2 cups of sugar
- 1½ cups of water
- ¼ teaspoon of lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon of cardamom powder
- 12-15 Saffron strands / Kesar
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Method of preparation of Jamun balls
- Take the khoya in a mixing bowl. Since it is soft, it kneads very well.
- Mash the khoya thoroughly with your hands, as it would ensure that the mixture is devoid of any lumps.
- Take ½ cup of paneer and grate them into small sized pieces.
- Now, add this grated paneer and the all-purpose flour into the mashed khoya.
- Pour 1 tablespoon of milk and gently mix the ingredients to form a dough. If the dough is too dry, we can add 1-2 tablespoon of milk. Mix it well.
- Take out some lemon sized piece from the dough and press it to form an oblong cylindrical shape.
- Repeat the process until the whole of dough is made into oblong cylindrical shaped pieces.
Preparation of Sugar Syrup
- Heat 1½ cups of water in a pan and add 2 cups of sugar. Gently stir the contents so that the sugar gets dissolved in the water.
- When the sugar is fully dissolved, add ¼ teaspoon of lemon juice. This would make sure that the sugar syrup won’t be crystallised.
- Once the solution attains a string consistency, take it off from the flame, add ½ teaspoon of cardamom powder and 12-14 crushed saffron strands.
Frying the Jamuns
- Heat some oil in a deep frying pan or Kadai. Once the oil is hot, add one small piece of dough. If it quickly comes to the surface of the oil, we can conclude that the oil is perfectly hot for frying.
- Reduce the flame to a low range and gently add the oblong cylindrical shaped dough pieces.
- Make sure that the jamuns are not crowded, add the dough pieces as per the size of the pan.
- After some time, turn over the jamuns and fry it to a darker brown texture.
- Take it off from the oil and place it on tissue paper to remove the excess oil.
- Quickly add them to the sugar syrup, fry all the jamuns and add it to the sugar syrup.
- Once the sugar syrup cools down, keep the bowl covered in the fridge.
- Serve this chilled Kala Jamun as a dessert.
