Gulab jamun is a very popular Indian sweet. They are bitesize round dessert soaked into cardamom sugar syrup with rose water till it is perfectly soft and juicy. They are very light and delicious.

When I was young, we lived in India for a year. I remember begging my mom to buy me Gulab jamuns, every time we went out.  They are one of my most favorite desserts alongside barfi and basan ladoo (chickpea flour ladoo).

Over the years I have tried to make these sweets at home and do my best to get better at them. To make gulab jamun is not that difficult but it takes a little practice.

Since blueberries are in season I thought of trying something new.  How about blueberry jumuns?!

Ingredients for making blueberry jumuns:

• 1 cup of dry milk (milk powder)
• 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoon of pancake flour (I used Aunt Jemima pancake mix)
• ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 5 table spoon of milk or water (using milk makes them more fluffy, also use more milk/water only if needed)
• 2 tablespoon of oil
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• Firm blueberries
• Oil for frying

Ps. I have adjusted my recipe several times and I find pancake mix works much better then regular flour alone. Also using blueberries, it added extra bite to these traditional dessert. Keep in mind some blueberries will explode inside the jamuns and makes it look flat rather round. That is okay. It still taste amazing!

Ingredients for sugar syrup:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1  1/2 cup of water
• ½ teaspoon of ground cardamom
• 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of rose water (optional if you don’t have rose water)

How to make the jamuns:

Mix all the dry ingredients and with a fork fluff up flours and dry milk.  Add oil and lemon juice.  Add milk (or water) one spoon at a time. Judging the consistency of the dough. The dough should be soft so you can roll it in to small bitesize round balls.   Make sure to roll one blueberry in between of each jumuns.

Tip: To make rolling process easy, in a separate bowl add one tablespoon of oil for coding your hands. Code both palm of your hands with a little of oil and roll bite size in to smooth round balls.

Fry jumuns on a  very  very low heat until golden brown.

How to make sugar syrup:

Add sugar, fresh lemon juice and water together.  Bring to a boil do not stir. Once it start boiling, bring the heat slightly lower and let it boil until slightly thicker and syrupy. Bring the heat down to minimum and add the cardamom and rose water. Mix and keep it warm.

Once jamuns are ready, take it out of frying pan, shake all access oil, and directly drop them into the syrup.

Let all jamuns set in the syrup for 10-20 minutes before serving.

 

I got these blueberries from Rai’s Colebrook Farming (@rai.colebrookfarming)

Freshly picked, so sweet and delicious.  We are so fortunate to have so many farms around us.  Support our farmers and enjoy the best locally grown, short lived summer goodies, while they are in season.