SUNDAY DESSERT #71: Gulab Jamun (pronounced: "goo-lahb ja-moon")
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: India 🇮🇳
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Intermediate
INSPIRATION: As some of you may remember, the last time I made a dessert from India (Besan Ladoo) it tasted absolutely terrible. I'm trying to toughen up and be brave enough to try out an Indian dessert one more time...for fairness sake.
RECEPTION/COMMENTARY: I can already tell you that these aren't authentic. There were two red flags in the ingredients list; cardamom and rose water. Cardamom has been slightly redeemed in my mind because it actually tastes good (in small amounts) from other goodies I've made that require it. So I can be flexible with that one. Rose water, on the other hand, will never, EVER be redeemed to me. Every single recipe had this ingredient listed so it must be a signature flavor for this particular dessert. I came so very close to making something else entirely because of that one ingredient alone. However, these got pretty high reviews for being a staple Indian treat so I HAD to test it out -- just without the rose water. Again, it isn't authentic because I refuse to add potpourri to my desserts.
Dried milk powder, ghee, flour, and liquid milk combine to make a dough that you roll into balls before frying them in some more ghee. Then you submerge the Indian doughnuts in a sugar syrup made with cardamom, saffron, and (not) rose water until they are soaked through. This makes them sweet and gives it a melt-in-your-mouth texture and consistency.
And they do melt in your mouth. And they are sweet. But...meh. There's not much flavor. That is probably where the rose water comes in handy but that's never gonna happen for me. Maybe trying extracts like almond or lemon might give it a boost? I dunno. Anyway, it's much better than the last thing I tried from India so I gave it a 5/10.
WOULD I MAKE IT AGAIN? I'm going to say no. Sorry India! Desserts from your country just aren't my thing.
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