Maple Gulab Jamun

Directions

1. For the doughnuts - Jamuns
2. Take the khoya and grate it with the help of a grater just to remove any lumps and to make it smooth. Now, If you do not want to make it from Khoya or do not find khoya there is this instant version using Milk powder. So use either 1.5 cup khoya or 1 1/3 cup milk powder.
3. Mix in the all-purpose flour, baking soda to khoya or milkpowder and mix it well. Now, add the ghee and add the milk one tbsp at a time. And, knead dough. It would be either a crumbly dough or smooth. Don't panic. Do not make it very soft, if at all the dough looks very soft because you might have added a little bit of more milk then add a tbsp of flour.
4. Divide the dough into equal size portions. Make small walnut sized balls from the dough. You can also make oblong shape if you like. (My mother-in-Law makes oblong shaped and my mom makes round shaped) . Remember, the dough would stick a bit while forming balls so use a little bit of ghee to grease your palms while shaping each balls.
5. Once all the balls are formed place them on a parchment lined tray. Leave it aside till you heat the oil and 2 tbsp of ghee, both together. (Traditionally, they are fried in pure and solely in ghee but it really adds lots of unwanted calories)
6. In a deep pan or wok, heat oil at medium heat upto 240 F to 250 F if you are using thermometer, drop each rounds into oil and fry them till they are golden brown not too dark color for about 5 to 6 minutes and only drop four to five balls at a time and let them fry evenly and nicely rather overcrowding the pan. Do not move them until they are well done as they might break..it is very easy if you do it carefully or else it split open and spoil the oil.
7. Remove them on absorbent paper and leave aside.
8. Three basic things which are important - One when you roll the doughnuts make sure you don't leave any cracks because they will crack when frying. 2. Fry them on low heat so that it cooks thoroughly from inside. 3. Atleast let them sit in the syrup for about 15 minutes before serving so that it really absorbs the syrup well and use a broad bowl or else some of them will not be even touching the syrup.

1. Maple syrup
2. Heat the maple syrup in a pan, add the rose water, cardamom powder and saffron and mix it well.
3. Add, the water to this and cook it until you have got the water mixed well with maple syrup and flavors have merged for about 5 to 7 minutes max. Switch off the stove. And, immediately drop in the fried doughnuts. And , let them steep or absorb the syrup.
4. The best way to do this is to prepare the syrup and fry the doughnuts side by side. The doughnuts should be dropped all together not batch wise. Remember the syrup should be warm not boiling when you drop the fried balls.
5. You can garnish it with some pistachios or sliced almonds and serve it hot along with some ice cream or let them sit in fridge for sometime and serve chilled. Either way they are going to taste delicious. I like everything hot..whether that be dessert or savory dish..