Gulab Jamun recipe with milk powder, suji and maida – This gulab jamun is easy to make, delicious, super soft & spongy perfect milk powder gulab jamun recipe.

Gulab jamun is the most popular North Indian sweet, originally a deep-fried khoya or mawa ball dunked or cooked in hot sugar syrup. However, I make my Gulab jamun with milk powder, followed by suji, maida, and baking soda. Fried in ghee and cooked in cardamom flavored sugar syrup. Neither I use Khoya/mawa nor any evaporated milk solids.

For making this gulab jamun, first I prepare a dough with milk powder, maida, suji/semolina, milk, ghee, elaichi powder, little sugar, and baking soda. Small lemon size balls are made from the dough and later deep fry in ghee or refined oil (vegetable oil) until getting a golden brown texture. Lastly, dunk or cook the fried balls into the cardamom-flavored hot sugar syrup or chaashni for a few minutes. Then give it 1 hr rest in sugar syrup to fully soak it in it which will make it soft and juicy.

It is easy to make at home to celebrate house parties like Birthdays, Potluck, Kitty Party, and Marriage anniversaries or to celebrate festivals like Holi, Rakshabandhan, Navratri, or, Diwali. This sweet is best served hot, all alone, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Several times I’ve wasted all the ingredients while preparing this gulab jamun at home. And lastly, I was able to prepare it correctly, so this post is a perfectly tasted recipe directly from my kitchen. So you can perfectly prepare it at home just by following my step-by-step instructions. This method is so easy, no matter whether you are a beginner or a bachelor.

Why I made gulab jamun from milk powder?

3 reasons I used milk powder for making this sweet.

1. Milk powder is easily available everywhere(especially in India)

2. It is a very good substitute for khoya or mawa, and

3. For a very quick and instant result, milk powder made gulab jamun is best.

Here, all-purpose flour is used as a binder for making its dough (as milk powder can melts down in ghee and sugar if used all alone). Secondly, use suji and baking soda together which makes this sweet soft. Ghee gives the glaze to this sweet. Lastly, sugar makes it juicy, and gives it a rich color.

My tricks

firstly, I put the semolina or suji or rava in water(at room temperature) for soaking the suji for 10 mins. This soaked suji is the key ingredient for making this super soft gulab jamun.

Secondly, after mixing all ingredients, when we get a sticky dough, just keep it aside for 10 mins (resting time) before making the balls to fry.

Lastly, after frying the balls, I boiled them in the sugar syrup.

Difference between Gulab Jamun and Bengali sweet Pantua

In Kolkata, we have a similar version of this sweet called Pantua. Whearas, gulab jamun is prepared with only khoya or mawa. However, pantua made by khoya and chenna (or coagulated milk) or even with paneer both but the taste-wise is quite similar to each other.

But as I don’t have any crush on pantua from my childhood so I don’t feel that huge love for gulab jamuns too. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it but I’m not a real gulab jamun lover (who dies for this sweet). So I’m going to dedicate this recipe to those Indian people who are truly dying for this sweet.

How to make Gulab Jamun recipe (step by step with pictures)

Making dough of jamuns

Take 2 tablespoons Suji/Rava/Semolina in a bowl and soak it in 2 tablespoons of water (at room temperature) for 10 mins.

Then in a mixing bowl, take 1/2 cup(≈ 62.5 grams) milk powder(Amul/every day), 3 tablespoons plain maida(All-purpose flour), 3/4 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder(ground choti elaichi), a pinch(1/8 teaspoon) of baking soda, and lastly add 2 teaspoon ghee to it. Mix it together.

After 10 mins strain the excess water from the soaked suji or semolina and add the suji to the mixing bowl and mix it nicely with other ingredients.

Now add 1+1/2 tablespoon milk to it and mix it well together. The dough is ready.

This dough will be too sticky then, so cover it and leave it for 10 mins.

After 10 mins, grease your palm and fingers with a little oil or ghee (1 teaspoon) and start making medium lemon size balls from the dough. Keep it aside.

How to fry gulab jamun

For frying heat a pan on medium flame with ghee and oil.
1 cup= 250 ml oil(refined oil/any vegetable oil) and 1/4 cup= 4 tablespoon ghee should be used.
When the oil will be a little hot, slow down the heat to its low flame and add the balls to the oil.

Fry the balls until it gets dark golden brown texture. As shown in the picture below.
Remove the fried balls from the pan with a perforated ladle and keep it aside.

Making sugar syrup or chaashni

Take a bowl with 1 cup of sugar (200 grams), 1+1/2 cup(≈ 375 ml) of water, and 3-4 cardamom(broken) to it.
Then place the bowl on a medium flame.

When the sugar completely melts down into the water, then boil the mixture for 3-4 mins.

How to soak gulab jamun in sugar syrup

Then immediately, add the fried gulab jamuns to the boiling sugar syrup and cover the bowl with a lid.

Boil it on a medium flame for 10 mins.
After 10 mins leave it for at least 1 hour.
Let it completely cool down for getting the best result (more than 1 hr).

After 1 hr, Our sweet shop-style soft juicy gulab jamun will be ready.
You can garnish it with pistachios while serving.