Hello Sunday !!! How are you all doing ? I am in the mood to binge eat on some Indian sweets. But my pantry isn't that great stocked. So what do I do? I need me some Food hacks , right. Yes, I do.
Speaking of Food Hacks , I recently came across an idea while I was chatting with some friends of mine. I was having a similar craving for some Indian sweets, just like I am having today. I learned how to make Gulab Jamuns(Golden Fried Ricotta dumplings, soaked in sugar syrup), from bread. Yes , Bread. So if you have stale bread at home, which you were planning to re-purpose in to some Bread Pudding, you have another Dessert option. The bread soaked in some whole milk and a dusting of cardamom powder can get a new lease of life and transform itself into some yummy Gulab Jamuns.
Honestly speaking when I had first heard this, I had my doubts over it. I mean how can you re-craete the taste and texture of such an iconic Indian sweet. I decided to give it a go and check out the rumor for myself. If all the hype surrounding this supposed food hack was true. I mean half the internet was full of everyone's version of how to make Gulab Jamuns from day old bread and everyone was gushing over it.
I made a small batch and I must admit , mine were a bit over fried and maybe not exactly the most round in shape. The pictures were not that pretty as were the ones doing the rounds on internet and getting viral. But when it came to taste, I was pleasantly shocked. Boy oh boy , these Gulab Jamuns were the real deal. If I didn't tell you that they were not made from some store bought sweet mix, or churned up from someone's Momma's family recipe, you would find it hard to believe that it was plain bread and some good old whole milk replacing the ricotta.
Go ahead, give it a try. This food hack is every bit worth it. And its a great last minute dessert idea for any Desi party you might be throwing at home.
GULAB JAMUN MADE FROM BREAD :
Ingredients :
For the Jamun:
Bread : 4 slices
Milk : 1/3 cup
Green Cardamom : 2- 3
Granulated sugar : 2 tbsp
For the sugar syrup :
Sugar : 1/2 cup
Water: 1 cup
Green Cardamom: 2-3
Bay Leaves
Procedure:
To make the basic sugar syrup, which you can use for a host of Indian sweets, mix the ingredients in a heavy pan and let it come to a boil. Once it come stop a rolling boil, then reduce heat and let it summer till the liquid reaches a string consistency. Let it cool .
For making the Jamun, trim the brown crust of the bread. I used regular white sandwich bread.
Soak the bread into the milk, till all the mil has been absorbed by the bread.
Mash the bread and form it into a dough. if you feel your dough is too wet, then you can squeeze out excess milk. Add the sugar and add the cardamom seeds in it. Use a light hand to midx this dough, so that the jamuns don't get tough.
Form the dough into equal sized balls.
Heat oil in a non stick pan to medium heat and then deep fry these balls, carefully till they are golden brown on all sides. Dont fry these jams at high heat or else the jamuns will get burnt easily and inner part of it will remain uncooked.
Dunk them in the warm sugar syrup for at least two hours.
Serve them warm or cold.
Bon Appetit !!!
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