Jamun from Jamun Mix

I was thinking long and hard as to what to put for Deepavali. Then I remembered the most popular, delectable Indian sweet, our very own Jamun. And it is not from scratch my friends, nuh-uh, it is from MTR Jamun mix. 

My husband was asking ‘Shouldn’t you at least make it from scratch to put in your blog. From a Mix seems too easy’. 

Yes, he was right. Jamun is a staple in many Indian households during festivals, and everybody knows how to make them from a mix. But let the truth be told my friends, I didn’t know!! I had a VERY hard time getting it right all these years.

Jamun is mine and my kiddo’s super favorite sweet. So I would always attempt to make it. But it flopped all the time!! It would pain me like anything when my daughter slurped on my really bad jamuns and said she loved them! Poor girl had no idea how a real jamun tasted like! Then finally one day, by God’s grace it “clicked”. 

My husband had put a picture of my Jamuns on Facebook some time back, and one of my friends told me that it looked as though it had been made by a halvaayi(professional sweet maker). Thanks Indu, aren’t you a sweetheart!! 

From what I called Jamun, which was nothing but a mass of fried jamun dough disintegrated into pieces in not so sweet water, which I called sugar syrup; or a lumpy hard ball refusing to soak in any syrup; or the jamuns  getting stuck in crystallized syrup(which I was selling as dry jamuns btw); to the professional looking ones below, I’ve seen them all, made them all!! :)

So without further ado, here I present, “How to make Jamun from Jamun mix”, with all tips and tricks that I’ve learnt from this video(Oggarane Dabbi series, made by “Maiya’s” chef). 

This post is dedicated to all those who have a really hard time making jamuns! Follow these steps and you’ll make good jamuns in no time. 

Happy Deepavali!!

Ingredients

Jamun Mix - MTR mix 

Water

for the sugar syrup

Sugar - 2 cups

Water - 2 1/2 cups

Cardamom powder

Method

In a wide pot make sugar syrup. 

Add 2 and 1/2 cups of water. Bring it to a boil. Add sugar. Cover and boil for about 7 min. Open and check if it looks like a syrup(it should look sticky and not watery). Or taste it. Sometimes I would let it boil for couple more minutes. Turn off the stove and add cardamom powder. 

Heat oil in a kadai. While it is heating up, prepare jamun dough. 

Take 1 is to 1/4, jamun mix and water. Sprinkle water and mix the mixture with the tip of your fingers. The dough is still sticky at this stage (like a pakoda batter). Earlier I used to add little less water and make it like a non-sticky chapathi dough. But that can crack in the oil.

Smear oil generously on you hands. Take the dough. DO NOT KNEAD. Make equal sized small balls. Let the jamun balls be small, as it puffs up once in the oil, and next in the syrup. 

Make sure your hands are nicely smeared with oil. Take a ball. Press it flat. Then roll them into balls. This step is to avoid any lumps.

Take the balls carefully from the plate and fry till golden brown. The oil should be medium hot. While frying, continuously turn the balls so that the whole ball is uniformly browned. Earlier I would wait for one side to be cooked and then turn it to the other side, which would leave a light spot. By turning continuously, the jamun browns uniformly. Please be careful while turning the balls in the oil. 

Take them out on a tissue paper. Let them sit for less than a minute. Then put them in the syrup.  

The jamuns soak up the syrup almost immediately. Enjoy!

Recipe Source - Oggarane Dabbi series on YouTube(in the end)

Notes - 

• I used half of a big pack of MTR Jamun Mix, which made some 35 jamuns.
• Syrup made with the above proportion was just enough for 35 jamuns. 
• This amount was made in less than half an hour.