Gulab Jamun

Gulab jamun is fried milk-dough balls soaked in a rose-and-cardamom sugar syrup until soft throughout. It is the sweet that closes almost any North Indian celebration meal, soft enough to give slightly under a spoon and sweet enough that a little goes a long way.

What it really is

Milk is reduced for hours until only the solids remain, then worked with a little flour into a smooth, slightly firm dough, shaped into small balls and fried slowly over gentle heat so they cook through evenly without browning too fast on the outside. Straight from the fryer, the warm balls go into a sugar syrup scented with cardamom and often rosewater, where they sit long enough to soak all the way to the centre, doubling in size as they absorb the liquid.

Gentle heat is what keeps them soft through to the middle. Fried too hot, the outside browns before the inside cooks, leaving a dense, undercooked core under a dark crust; the slow fry is what makes the whole ball soft once it's soaked.

How it is served

• Warm or at room temperature, in a small bowl with syrup pooled around them.
• Two or three per portion, since they're rich enough that more feels like too much.
• At the end of a meal or at a celebration, rarely anywhere else on the menu.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the dairy in the milk dough and the wheat in the binder.
• Say if rosewater is used in the syrup, since its floral note is unexpected for guests who haven't had it before.
• Note that they're served warm rather than cold, since temperature genuinely changes the texture here.