Dry Jamun as the name suggests is a dry variant of the popular, juicy, moist and sugar syrup dunked, traditionally made Gulab Jamun. These delicious dry gulab jamuns are made with Khoya (evaporated milk solids) and Paneer (Indian cottage cheese). Dry is the English word for ‘Sukha’ in Hindi. Hence as the name suggests these jamuns do not have sugar syrup served with them. Hence they are also known as Sukha Jamun.
About Dry Jamun
The dry jamun recipe is similar to the Kala Jamun recipe, I had posted earlier with just a few changes. The recipe yields about 36 to 38 jamuns.
As mentioned above, to make these, you will need soft khoya, paneer, milk and a few flavoring ingredients like green cardamom powder, saffron strands and rose water.
You will also need sugar and water to make the sugar syrup. Making the sugar syrup is not difficult at all.
A soft dough is made from the khoya, paneer and milk. Smalls balls are made from the dough which are later fried to a golden perfection.
The fried balls or jamuns are kept to soak in the sugar syrup for about 2 hours. Later the jamuns are removed or strained from the syrup and coated with finely granulated sugar or desiccated coconut.
You can make them in round shapes or oblong oval shape. Make the dry jamun for Diwali and enjoy with your family, friends and guests.
And what do you do with the leftover sugar syrup? Keep the syrup in the fridge and add them to drinks like nimbu pani or in milkshakes instead of sugar.
You can also add the sugar syrup to sweets like Kheer, Rabdi, Basundi. And also in baked goodies like cakes or muffins.
How to make Dry Jamun
Make Jamuns
1. In a bowl, take 250 grams of khoya or mawa.
The khoya used for jamuns is the soft khoya also known as daap ka khoya or chikna khoya. This is a soft khoya, so it mashes and kneads very well.
2. Mash the khoya very well with your hands. Keep aside. There should be no lumps or small bits or pieces in the khoya.
You can also grate and then mash the khoya. The mashed khoya should not feel granular to touch.
3. Grate 100 grams paneer and keep aside. 100 grams paneer yields about ½ cup grated paneer.
Use a fine grater to grate the paneer. If using freshly made paneer than make sure the paneer is strained well of the whey.
4. Now add the grated paneer and 3 tablespoons all purpose flour (maida) to the mashed khoya.
5. Add 1 tablespoon milk.
6. Gently mix everything very well.
7. Bring together this mixture and form into a dough. Do not knead the dough. Just mix very well and gather to a dough.
If the mixture looks dry and does not cling together to a dough, you can add 1 tablespoon more of the milk.
If the mixture looks too moist, then add 1 to 2 teaspoon of all-purpose flour (maida).
8. Now pinch small marble sized balls from the dough and roll them in a round shape between your palms. Roll lightly and not heavily.
10. Roll all the jamuns this way and keep them covered with a cotton kitchen towel.
Please note that I used half of the dough to make these dry jamuns and the remaining half to make kala jamuns.
Make Sugar Syrup
11. Take 2 cups sugar in a pan.
12. Add 1.5 cups water.
13. Keep this pan on stove top on a low to medium heat and stir so that the sugar begins to dissolve.
14. When all the sugar is dissolved, add ¼ teaspoon of lemon juice. The lemon juice does not allow the sugar syrup to crystallize.
15. Cook the sugar syrup on a low to medium heat till you get ½ string consistency or the syrup becomes sticky.
16. Switch off the heat and add ½ teaspoon green cardamom powder and 12 to 15 strands of saffron, crushed. Also add 1 tablespoon rose water.
Fry Jamun
17. When the sugar syrup is cooking, you can begin frying the jamuns. As when you add the fried jamuns, the sugar syrup needs to be hot.
Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or deep pan on a low to medium heat. You can also use ghee for deep frying.
18. For testing, slid a tiny dough ball in the hot oil. The ball should come up slowly and not quickly. This is the temperature at which we will fry the jamuns.
19. Keep the heat to a low and fry this tiny jamun ball.
20. Fry this small jamun till it becomes golden.
If this jamun ball breaks, then add a few teaspoons of flour to the dough and mix well again. Before you begin shaping the jamuns, you can do this test.
21. Now gently slid the jamuns. The heat should be low. Do not crowd and add the jamuns as per the size of the pan.
22. When you see light golden spots, turn over the jamuns gently.
23. Keep on turning them in the oil, like a gentle swirling with the slotted spoon, so that they brown evenly.
24. When frying the jamuns have to feel light and not heavy. The jamuns fry very quickly, so do be attentive.
25. Fry till they turn golden.
25. Remove with a slotted spoon and place fried jamuns on paper towels to remove excess oil.
Make Dry Jamun
26. Whilst they are hot, quickly add them to the sugar syrup. Fry all the jamuns in the same way and add them to the sugar syrup.
Note that the sugar syrup has to be hot. To maintain the hot temperature, you can keep the sugar syrup bowl or pan on a hot water bath.
Cover and allow the jamuns to soak in the sugar syrup for about two hours. Use a wide bowl and not a small one like I have used below.
You need to give enough space for the jamuns to expand. I had only 1 spare bowl, so I used it.
27. After 2 hours, strain the jamuns gently from the sugar syrup. Then take each jamun and roll it in a small plate consisting of 2 to 3 tablespoon fine or super fine sugar. You can also use castor sugar.
28. You can also roll the jamuns in desiccated coconut.
29. Roll them well, so that the sugar or desiccated coconut coats evenly. Place dry jamuns in a bowl or container. Close with a lid and refrigerate.
30 Serve Dry Jamun as a dessert or sweet. You can garnish with some sliced or chopped pistachios or blanched almonds while serving.
More Diwali sweets then do check:
Sweets Recipes
Sweets Recipes
Sweets Recipes
Ladoo Recipes
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Dry Jamun | Dry Gulab Jamun
Ingredients
For the jamun balls
For sugar syrup
- 300 grams sugar or 2 cups sugar
- 1.5 cups water
- ¼ teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon rose water
- ½ teaspoon green cardamom powder
- 12 to 15 saffron strands
For coating
- 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar – fine or super fine, can also use desiccated coconut or castor sugar
Instructions
Making dry jamun dough
- In a mixing bowl, take the khoya or mawa. The khoya used for jamuns is the soft khoya also known as daap ka khoya or chikna khoya. This is a soft khoya, so it mashes and kneads very well.
- Mash the khoya very well with your hands. Keep aside. There should be no lumps or small bits or pieces in the khoya. You can also grate and then mash the khoya. Also, the mashed khoya should not feel granular.
- Grate the paneer and keep aside. 100 grams paneer yields about ½ cup grated paneer. Use a fine grater to grate the paneer.
- Now add the grated paneer and all-purpose flour (maida) to the mashed khoya.
- Add milk. Gently mix everything very well.
- Bring together this mixture and form into a dough. Do not knead the dough. Just mix and gather to a dough. If the mixture looks dry and does not cling together to a dough, you can add 1 tablespoon more of the milk
- Now pinch small marble sized balls from the dough and roll them in a round shape between your palms. Roll lightly and not heavily.
- Roll all the jamuns this way and keep them covered with a cotton kitchen towel.
Making sugar syrup
- Take the sugar in a pan and add water.
- Keep this pan on stove top on a low to medium heat and stir so that the sugar begins to dissolve.
- When all the sugar is dissolved, add lemon juice. The lemon juice does not allow the sugar syrup to crystallize.
- Cook the sugar syrup on a low to medium heat till you get ½ string consistency or the syrup becomes sticky.
- Switch off the heat and add green cardamom powder, crushed saffron strands and rose water.
Frying dry jamun
- When the sugar syrup is cooking, you can begin frying the jamuns. As when you add the fried jamuns, the sugar syrup needs to be hot.
- Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or deep pan on a low to medium heat.
- For testing, slid a tiny dough ball in the hot oil. The ball should come up slowly and not quickly. This is the temperature at which we will fry the jamuns.
- Keep the heat to a low and fry this tiny jamun ball.
- Fry this small jamun till it becomes golden. If this jamun ball breaks, then add a few teaspoons of flour to the dough and mix well again. Before you begin shaping the jamuns, you can do this test.
- Now gently slid the jamuns. The heat should be low. Do not crowd and add the jamuns as per the size of the pan.
- When you see light golden spots, turn over the jamuns gently. The jamuns fry very quickly, so do be attentive.
- Keep on turning them in the oil, like a gentle swirling with the slotted spoon, so that they brown evenly.
- When frying the jamuns have to feel light and not heavy.
- Fry till they turn golden from all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and place them on paper towels to remove excess oil.
Making Dry Gulab Jamun
- Whilst they are hot, quickly add them to the sugar syrup. Fry all the jamuns in the same way and add them to the sugar syrup.
- Note that the sugar syrup has to be hot. To maintain the hot temperature, you can keep the sugar syrup bowl or pan on a hot water bath. Cover and allow the jamuns to soak in the sugar syrup for about 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, gently strain the jamuns from the sugar syrup.
- Then take each jamun and roll it in a small plate consisting of 2 to 3 tablespoons of fine or superfine granulated sugar or 2 to 3 tablespoons of desiccated coconut.
- Roll them well, so that the sugar or desiccated coconut coats evenly. Place dry jamuns in a bowl or container. Close with a lid and refrigerate.
- Serve dry jamuns as a dessert or sweet. You can garnish with some sliced or chopped pistachios or blanched sliced almonds while serving.
Notes
- Use soft khoya to make the dry jamuns. The khoya or mawa has to grate easily or knead/mash well.
- Add your choice of slivered nuts on the dry jamuns for garnish. You can also skip on the garnishes if you prefer.
- Fry on low to medium-low heat to get the best results.
- Keep in mind that the sugar syrup has to be hot, when you soak the jamuns in it.
- The recipe can be scaled to halve or double the servings.
- Note that the approximate nutrition info is for one dry jamun made from this recipe.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Dry Jamun recipe from the archives, originally published in November 2015 has been updated and republished on January 2023.
Hi mam,
What is the shelf life of dry jamuns ?
Please reply…..
stays good for 10 to 12 days in the fridge.