Sweet potato gulab jamun

Gulab jamuns is the classic indian dessert which is very famous and enjoyed by all in celebration meals.Gulab means rose and jamun means berry.Gulab jamuns are berry shaped balls dipped in rose flavored sugar syrup. Traditionally they were prepared using khoya at home which was tedious process but now a day people make gulab jamuns using readymade packets. Gulab jamuns made from sweet potato is almost similar to traditional sweet from Bengal called as mishit aloo'r pantua.

For dussehra this year I wanted to try some out of the box dessert recipe.While searching for recipes on the internet I found these one.Sweet potatoes are also easily available in this season. I had tasted many other recipes using sweet potato prepared by mom like chips or sweet potato karanji (nevri) but never tried jamun recipe.This recipe is made with fewer ingredients and easy to prepare. The taste of this jamuns is nowhere near jamuns made with khoya but their taste was different and good with soft texture.

                                                       

Sweet potato before cooking

        Ingredients

• Sweet Potatoes - 2 cup mashed
• All Purpose Flour / Maida - 2 tblspn
• Salt - a pinch
• Baking soda- a pinch
• Oil or Ghee for deep frying
• (Makes around 20 jamuns)
• For Syrup
• Sugar - 2 cup
• Water - 1 cup
• Cardamom Pods - 2 crushed

Sweet potato after cooking

        Method of preparation

• Take sweet potatoes clean them,cut them into half.In a pan take water and let them cook until they are soft.
• Poke the sweet potato using fork to check whether they are fully cooked. Then drain the excess water.
• Now once they are cooled down peel and mash the sweet potatoes nicely.
• Now measure 2 cup of mashed sweet potatoes in a bowl.
• Then add salt,all purpose flour and baking soda in the flour. Knead to make smooth dough.
• Now take small portion of the dough, and roll it into a smooth ball. Now set this ball aside.
• Take sugar and water in a sauce pan, heat and bring it to a boil, boil it for around 10 minutes, it will get thick in this time. Let it cool down to room temperature.Add crushed cardamom powder to the sugar syrup.
• Now heat oil for deep frying, drop jamuns in hot oil and fry on a medium heat till golden. Keep mixing this for even coloring.
• Now drain them and add to the syrup immediately. Let them soak for around one hour.Serve cold.

                                                                                   

Kneading the dough

                                                        

Make round balls for frying

        Note

• Mashing the sweet potatoes is the main step, you can mash them using hand or grate them using a fine grater.
• Add little maida if your mix is sticky, adding too much maida may turn out in making hard jamuns .
• You can enhance the taste of jamuns by adding rose water and saffron to the sugar syrup but it’s optional.

                                                                             

Fried balls ready to soak in sugar syrup

                             

        Happy cooking!