Gulab Jamun....and some Diwali Celebrations

 Lately, I was so busy with my personal life that I had to give my blogging life a break for a while. I chose to enjoy this break with my friends and family. We celebrated so many festivals starting from Durga Puja, Lakhmi Puja, Halloween, Diwali, Kali Puja etc. Moreover, Thanksgiving is around the corner too. I was in a festive mood and did lot many things that I had planned for this festive season.

Last week India celebrated the festival of lights: "DIWALI". On this occasion we visited my parent's place in Nagpur to celebrate Diwali and Kali Puja. Yes, we have a small committee of Bengalis there who enthusiastically wait for this time of the year and celebrate Kali Puja for 3 days.

This time I prepared Gulab Jamuns to celebrate the occasion and managed to take few pics before they all were vanished. I have already posted the recipe for Langcha (Click Here for recipe). Both the recipes are almost similar except their shape and size. I'm glad to share few pics of Kali Puja and Diwali decor at my Mom's place. Hope you'll like it.

So, let's get started:

Ingredients:

For Making Cottage Cheese(Chena):

1. Milk : 1 liter 

2. Lime Juice : 4 tbsp (mix with 1 tbsp of water)

For Making Gulab Jamuns:

1. Cottage Cheese (Chena) : 200 grams
2. Khoa (Solidified Milk) : 100 grams

3. Flour : 2 tbsp

4. Sugar : 1 tbsp

5. Baking Powder : 1/4 tsp

6. Cardamoms(crushed) : 4-5
7. Ghee : 1 tbsp

8. Oil : For frying

For Making Sugar Syrup:

1. Sugar : 5 cups

2. Water : 2 cups

3. Cardamoms(crushed) : 4-5

Method:

For Making Homemade Chena(Cottage Cheese):

1. Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat. Stir it continuously as it tends to stick to the bottom.

2. As milk starts boiling reduce the heat to low. Take small amount of milk in a ladle and add lime juice to it until milk (in the ladle) starts curdling. Then add this curdled milk into the pan and stir slowly until milk solids and whey (green color water) gets separated (you can add more lime juice if required but don't add too much because it will leave a sour taste and the chena will get firm). I like to curdle milk like this because this makes the process of curdling easier. 

3. Strain the curdled milk with a muslin cloth or a strainer lined with cotton cloth. Once all the water gets drained wash the chena under cold running water. This helps the chena to cool down and will remove its sourness.

4. Squeeze the excess water from the chena (don't overdo it otherwise the chena will become too dry) and hang it on the kitchen tap for around an hour to remove any excess water. Now your chena is ready for making Gulab Jamuns.

For Making Sugar Syrup: 

1. Take a heavy bottomed pan add sugar and water and place it on medium heat. Stir in between and remove the scums (if any).

2. Once sugar is dissolved completely reduce the heat and add crushed cardamoms. 

For Making Gulab Jamuns:

1. Mash the chena with your palms until its smooth. As you do so your palms will become greasy which is due to the fat present in the chena. 

2. I used store bought khoa so I grated it first and then mashed it until its smooth.

3. Now mix chena, khoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, crushed cardamoms and ghee. Knead it well with your palms until there are no lumps. The dough will be greasy and you will be able to feel it.

4. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and allow it to rest for 10-15 mins.

5. Now make equal sized round balls from the dough with the help of your palms. 

6. Heat oil in a pan on medium heat. Once ready remove the oil from heat, wait for a minute and add the balls carefully (few at a time as they tend to increase in size and should have room for frying evenly). Place the pan on heat again and fry them till they get a nice brown color. 

7. Take out the fried Jamuns and place them on a plate lined with paper towel to soak excess oil. Now add fried Gulab Jamuns in sugar syrup very carefully as they are very delicate. Make sure the syrup is hot. 

8. Soak the Gulab Jamuns in the sugar syrup for an hour and Voila!! your Gulab Jamuns is ready to serve. 

Note:

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