• Recipe by Claire Ferrandi

    These little biscuit-like morsels soaked in a syrup are intensely sweet, so a few is all one needs to satisfy a sugar craving.

    Pistachio and rose gulab jamuns

    Serves: 4
    Cooking Time: 35 minutes + 1 – 2 hours, to soak

    Ingredients

    • Rose syrup
    • 500ml (2 cups) water
    • 300g sugar
    • 4 green cardamom pods
    • juice of ½ lemon
    • 10ml (2 tsp) rose water
    • pinch salt
    • Jamuns
    • 200g powdered milk
    • 80g cake flour
    • pinch salt
    • 5ml (1 tsp) bicarbonate of soda
    • 10g butter/ghee (clarified butter), softened
    • 60g plain yoghurt
    • vegetable oil, to deep-fry
    • fresh rose petals, to garnish
    • pistachios, halved, to garnish

    Instructions

    1

    For the rose syrup, combine the water, sugar and cardamom pods in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, without stirring at all, and boil until a sticky syrup forms, about 15 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, rose water and salt and set aside.

    2

    For the jamuns, combine the milk powder, flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a medium bowl. Mix in the butter or ghee and half of the yoghurt. Mix and continue adding the yoghurt until a soft, sticky mixture forms – the dough should not be crumbly or dry.

    3

    Heat the vegetable oil in a deep-fryer or deep pot to 160°C. While the oil heats, form the dough into small balls, about 2cm in diameter. Fry the dough balls in small batches until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Add the balls to the warm sugar syrup and allow to soak, 1 – 2 hours.

    4

    Serve a few jamuns in a bowl at room temperature, garnished with rose petals and pistachios.