Gulab jamun is a classic Indian sweet that is a part of most festive and celebratory meals. Be it weddings or festivals, you will always find this sweet and juicy, solid milk-based dessert which is usually soaked in a rose and cardamom flavoured sugar syrup being savoured by everyone.
Gulab jamun is said to be originally derived from a Persian and Mediterranean dessert called Luqmat Al-Qadi. In India, you will come across different variations of this gulab jamun such as pantua, jhurre ka rasgulla and gulab jamun ki sabzi.
If you are up for some experimentation, give the traditional gulab jamun a baked twist. Here’s an incredibly delicious restaurant-style baked gulab jamun recipe. This baked version of gulab jamun comes with the flavour and deliciousness of khoya and rabri fused into this amalgamation of a beautiful creation by executive chef Amit Bajaj from Glocal Junction, Mumbai. This baked gulab jamun recipe with rabri makes a fantastic rich sweet dish option for the festive season.
Making baked gulab jamun
To make this gulab jamun recipe, we suggest you prepare the dough for the gulab jamun from scratch instead of using an instant mix. But in case you do not have enough time, you can use the readily available instant gulab jamun mix and then follow the instructions.
To make gulab jamun from scratch you will need khoya, refined flour, baking soda, sugar, water, green cardamom, ghee, rabri, pistachios and silver vark. Start by preparing the dough for the gulab jamun by finely mashing 100 grams of khoya on a clean flat surface. Make sure that the mashed khoya is soft and no grains or lumps remain. Now mix this with 25 grams of refined flour, add some baking soda to this and knead into a firm dough. Shape the dough into small even-sized balls.
Next, heat some ghee in a heavy-bottomed pan or kadhai and then on low heat fry all the dough balls till they turn golden brown. Once they are done, keep them aside and start with the next step of the gulab jamun recipe - preparing the sugar syrup.
Making sugar syrup for gulab jamun
To make the sugar syrup, mix about two cups of sugar with 250 ml water in a vessel and place over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and then bring the mixture to a boil. Skim off the layer that collects on the sides of the pan and then take it off the heat. Let it cool for at least half an hour.
Once it’s cool, add three to four cardamom pods and bring the syrup to a boil again. Turn off the heat and then add the fried gulab jamun to the syrup. Let the gulab jamun soak in the syrup for at least half an hour before moving on to baking them.
Baking gulab jamuns
Now grab a baking pan and place all the gulab jamuns on it and pour enough chilled rabri to cover all the sweets. The rabri has to be chilled because it needs to hold the temperature when you bake it in the oven and also so that the gulab jamun doesn't break. Bake this at less than 140 degrees Celsius until the top gets caramelised. Once done, remove it and garnish it with chopped pistachios and silver vark.
This baked gulab jamun recipe can serve about ten to twelve people and each gulab jamun comes with roughly 110 calories. You can consume this immediately and if you need to store the leftover baked gulab jamuns, transfer them into a container. Store it covered in a refrigerator at 5-8 degree Celsius. It can be stored for a maximum of two days.