The voyage to Gulab Jamun

I have realized that sentiwada and demonstration of lots of EQ becomes boring sometimes. So here I am giving something new to all my girlfriends. Guys can also give it a hand though :)
M presenting the recipe for ravi’s favo (and mine too)… ’Gulab Jamun.’ An absolute melt-in-the-mouth dessert which proudly marks the Northi ‘jeeman.’
U need to work on two things here…1st is the preparation of dough and 2nd, the sugar syrup. I prefer calling it chashni…the traditional way to give an Indian feel :)

Ingredients

Dough
250 gms khoya/mawa
2 T-spoons ghee
Around 100gms Maida(depending on how soft you’d like ur jamuns to be)
A pinch of baking powder (I have tried without baking powder also, result was good :))
Cashew(cut into small pieces for stuffing in the balls. You can also add other dry-fruits of ur choice)
Ghee for frying.

Chashni
2 cups water
2 cups sugar

Aao…Abb Banayen
Let’s start with the chashni as it’s advisable to have the chashni in place till the time you are done with the balls (:D….wondering…done with the balls???? …well…please read on)

1-Taar Chashni (One-Wire Sweet Syrup)
This looks to be very simple but is an important deciding factor for the success of your jamuns. Well…wondering wat is this 1-taar chashni??? Read on
1) Put 2 cups of water in a container and put it on flame
2) Add sugar to it
3) Boil it. Intermittently, keep on playing with it :)…yes…that’s what’s required to make 1-taar (one-wire) chashni. Take some droplets in spoon and drain it from some height, the droplet should go down leaving a thin wire of chashni. Or…the best way I find is…take a droplet of chashni on your fore-finger. Then touch your forefinger with the thumb slightly, and raise the thumb again. You would be able to see 1 taar(a wire) in between your finger and thumb. Ofcourse it won’t stay for even a sec.
This testing of 1-Taar is just for the sake of checking the consistency of sugar in water. You see, different sweets have sugar syrup of different consistency. Won’t talk on it much otherwise we’ll lose track.

The dough
Seive the khoya and the maida seperatley (if you plan to use baking powder, sieve it along with maida). Add 2 T-spoons ghee. (I add the ghee as people say these days u get ‘ghee-nikla-hua-mawa’ :P, so I think it’s not mandatory to add ghee)

2) Now start adding maida to khoya and prepare a soft dough. I suggest kneading it very well…atleast for 10 minutes.
Tip: Take a small ball of it and put it in kadai to see whether it’s frying properly or not. It should not burst.)

3) Now put a ghee filled kadai on flame so that by the time you are done with preparation of jamun balls, ghee will be hot enough to fry.

4) Now start making balls of the dough, stuff few dryfruits of your choice in the ball.
Tip: Take care that the surface of the balls is very smooth, otherwise the balls may burst at the time of frying.

5) Put 3-4 balls at a time in a kadai of hot ghee. Fry them on low flame until they are golden brown. Now…this frying of jamuns is a tricky business and it will come along with practice. So if you don’t get it exactly right for the first time, don’t lose hope :). You obviously won’t be able to beat our mumma who have been cooking excellent jamuns since last 20-30 years :P(in case you are planning to do so)
I can still provide a few tips which might make your mumma and hubby proud of your jamuns :P They are…keep on stirring the kadai while you are frying, don’t try to stir or even touch the jamuns with spoon, you can use ur spoon to take some hot ghee from corners of kadhai and pour it over the jamuns. When the lower part of jamun is fried with a color of somewhere between golden brown and dark brown…turn them upside down. Do this very gently.

6) Take out the jamuns and put them in the warm chashni. Let it soak chashni for however-long-you-can-resist, and start the devouring race between you and who-so-ever is standing in front of you :)

Tip: Its better if you do away with one batch and taste it to make sure it’s good/tolerable(whatever expectations u’ve set for the jamuns). Later on you can make all the balls with stuffed cashew and resins, fry them and put them to chashni all together.

And Yes…don’t forget to call me and tell how the experience was :). Wish you a great and adventurous journey of ‘The Gulab Jamun Making’
I am open to have tips to enrich my recipe.

Memories-A dedication

Just came across this poem, and got reminded of so many sweet memories of so many dear frenz I had…and still have in my life.
Looking back, it feels great to know that I had such special acquaintances, without which my life could have never been the way it is today.
Though physical distances have grown between us, but we are still together and very near. I wish some-day I again have time to re-feel their existence beside me. I wish I could be a part of all important happenings of their lives.

A poem dedicated to all by best frenz. Yup…I have manyyyy :)

Memories

Within my book of memories,
Are special thoughts of you.
And all the many nice things
You often say and do -

As I turn the pages,
And recall each single thought,
I realize the happiness
That knowing you has brought.

There are memories of the times we've shared
Both bright and sunny days.

There are memories of your kindness

And your friendly thoughtful ways.

There are memories of all those notes,
we would write back and forth,
When we would just get together,
And talk of this or that.

And when I recall these memories
As I go along life's way,
I find they grow more precious still
With every passing day.