Kala Jamun or Kala jaam recipe – (काला जामुन) is an exotic Indian sweet dish served on special occasions being a scrumptious desert very similar to Gulab Jamun. These black beauties are scrumptious to win anyone’s heart. It comes as surprise that these are more tastier than its counter part, Gulab Jamun, those these are more tasty.
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What is Kala Jamun
Black Jamun or Kala jamun a scrumptious classic Indian dessert. These are black in color and have very close resemblance to Gulab Jamun. These are made following almost the same recipe as that of Gulab Jamun. Here the deep-fried jamun balls are prepared with khoya, paneer. These have a stuffing of nuts and then dunked in the sugar syrup. These get the name “Kala” because these are black in color. You get the black color by deep frying at low heat for longer duration.
Difference from Gulab Jamun
The difference between gulab jamun and kala jaam is the colour and texture. Gulab jamun is golden colored and kala jamun is black in color. The taste also varies slightly. Normally, no paneer in gulab jamun whilst kala jamun is pure khoya and paneer. The reason paneer is added is to get the crumbly texture. Gulab Jamun is rather smooth. You will see that kala jamun is little chewy in taste, as compared to Gulab Jamun and have a nutty filling in the centre.
My brother and hubby both love this sweet, hence I do make sure that I am making these frequently, especially in UK, where getting gulab jamun is easy but not so easy to find these in a local confectionary. Be it Diwali or Holi, or any big festival like Rakhshabandhan or just a reason to celebrate, I will find an excuse to make a small portion of these kala jamuns.
I must also confess that I have sweet tooth, and when it comes to Indian sweets like this, I am not able to control myself from self indulgence. How many kala jamuns can you eat in a go ? Once brother and I had a competition and I ended up swallowing 10 of these!! Blimey!
Method of making Kala Jamun
- First of all, take khoya in a mixing bowl, grate it and then mash it well with the help of your hands so that there is no lumps or small bits in the khoya.
- Similarly grate paneer and add it to the the khoya add all purpose flour and baking soda.
- Add milk and gently mix everything very well to form a soft dough. Do not over-knead the dough, just mix and gather. If it looks dry, you can add little more milk just so that it forms a soft dough.
- Now for the stuffing, take a small part of this dough in another bowl and add 1.5 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder, red food colour, chironjee and broken cashews to it. Mix them well and our stuffing for Kala jamun is ready.
- Now for sugar syrup, heat 2 cups of sugar with 1.5 cups water in a pan and cook it on a medium flame till it starts boiling. Keep it for 5 more minutes and switch off the flame.
- Divide the rest of the dough into equal parts. Roll them round into a ball shape by placing the stuffing made, in centre.
- Heat oil in a pan / kadhai over medium flame.
- Now keep the flame to a low and gently put the 5-6 balls at a time for frying. With the help of a spoon or spatula, rotate the oil without touching balls. That will help in evenly frying of balls giving them a nice colour.
- When you see they have turned to dark brown colour then take them out and add them to the warm sugar syrup. Similarly, fry all the balls in the same way and add them to the sugar syrup.
Pro Tips for Best Kala Jamun
- Knead the dough so that there is no lump, dough should be smooth. Use bottom of your palm to knead the dough.
- Check the temperature of oil by dropping a small bit of dough, it should rise to surface gradually and not promptly.
- Sugar syrup should be right consistency. Syrup needs to be sticky but not thick, else balls won’t soak the syrup. Let balls rest in sugar syrup for 2-3 hours.
- Fry the balls on low heat, else inside of the kala jamun won’t get cooked. High heat will make the balls to go hard when dunked in syrup.
- Use ghee if you want even better taste.
- Normally one of the deterrent in making this black sweet is the khoya / mawa. Normal process of making khoya (solidified milk) can take hours, but you can make khoya instantly by milk powder or ricotta cheese. I will recommend using ricotta cheese mava for this kala jamun.
Storage
Keep these refrigerated in air-tight container and these shall easily last for 4-5 days.
These Kala Jamun are
- Soft and scrumptious
- Suitable as dessert post any meal
- Best suited as sweets for an Indian festival, like Holi, Diwali
- Good in quality as you know all the ingredients you have used, as against to store ones, which may have adulteration
Serving Suggestion
Serve Kala Jamun as dessert after your meal. Serve these at room temperature or can serve chilled cold.
Recipe Card
Kala Jamun
Ingredients
- 250 Grams Mava / Khoya
- 100 Grams Paneer / Indian Cottage Cheese
- 3 Tbsp All Purpose Flour/ Maida
- 1/8 tsp Baking Soda
- 1.5 tbsp Full Fat Milk
- 250 ml Oil For Frying (Can use ghee for better taste)
- 300 Grams Sugar
- 1.5 Cup Water
- 1 tsp Cardamom Powder
- 30 Chironjee
- 25 Cashews Broken
- 2-3 drops Red Food Colour
- 1 tbsp Desiccated coconut For Garnishing
- Edible Silver Foil For Garnishing
Instructions
- First of all, take khoya in a mixing bowl. First grate it and then mash it well with the help of your hands so that there is no lumps or small bits in the khoya.
- Similarly grate paneer and add it to the the khoya.
- Now add All purpose flour and baking soda.
- Add milk and gently mix everything very well to form a soft dough. Do not over-knead the dough, just mix and gather. If it looks dry, you can add little more milk just so that it forms a soft dough.
- Now for the stuffing, take a small part of this dough in another bowl and add 1.5 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder, red food colour, chironjee and broken cashews to it. Mix them well and our stuffing for Kala jamun is ready.
- Now for sugar syrup, heat 2 cups of sugar with 1.5 cups water in a pan and cook it on a medium flame till it starts boiling. Keep it for 5 more minutes and switch off the flame.
- Divide the rest of the dough into equal parts. Roll them round into a ball shape by placing the stuffing made, in centre.
- Heat oil in a pan / kadhai over medium flame. To check the correct temperature of oil, just slide a tiny portion of dough in the hot oil. It should come up on surface slowly not quickly.
- Now keep the flame to a low and gently put the 5-6 balls at a time for frying. With the help of a spoon or spatula, rotate the oil without touching balls. That will help in evenly frying of balls giving them a nice colour. It will take easily 7-8 minutes to fry a batch.
- When you see they have turned to dark brown colour then take them out and add them to the warm sugar syrup. Similarly, fry all the balls in the same way and add them to the sugar syrup.
- Cover and allow them to soak in the sugar syrup for 2-3 hours.
- After they are done with soaking syrup, take them out and serve them dry and garnish with shredded coconut. Alternatively, garnish with silver leaf and serve Kala Jaam / Jamun at room temperature or chilled.
Notes
- Be careful while preparing the dough, it should be smooth without any lump.
- Check the temperature of oil by dropping a small bit of dough, it should rise to surface gradually and not promptly.
- You can experiment with stuffing, like adding chocolate.