Weekly Recipe: Chocolate Jamuns With Sugar Syrup By Besharam in San Francisco

When the days get shorter and the nights ever longer, many cultures around the world celebrate a festival of light to bring some merriment and hope into the darkened hours. In India, that celebration is called Diwali, and it’s a time to gather with friends and family for feasting and smiles.

Heena Patel, chef and co-owner of Besharam in San Francisco, CA, is marking this year’s Diwali with a special “eat with your hands” dinner with lots of shared bites, individual delights and seasonal desserts, but you don’t have to be in the Bay Area to get in on her Diwali celebration.

See also: Weekly Recipe: Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Maple Dijon Vinaigrette From Crossroads Kitchen LA

To inspire your own Diwali gathering, chef Patel has shared with our readers her recipe for chocolate jamuns with sugar syrup below.

“Jamuns were the only donuts I knew when I was growing up in Gujarat, India, and it’s a favorite sweet of mine during Diwali,” Patel says. “It’s traditional to prepare jamuns with mawa (milk solids), rose water and cardamom, but for this version, I incorporated a 70 percent Maya Mountain Belize chocolate from local Bay Area chocolatier Dandelion Chocolate.”

This recipe yields 35 jamuns and about enough sugar syrup for all. Chef Patel will be serving this delightful treat at Besharam’s Diwali celebration on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 11 and 12, and she hopes you enjoy it with your family, wherever you shall be!

Chocolate Jamuns

Ingredients:

Jamuns

• 141 gms (1 cup) fine grated mawa (milk solids; note: mawa bricks can be found at South Asian grocery stores)
• 151 gms(1 cup) fine grated paneer
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons semolina
• 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 4 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ gallon canola oil (for deep frying)
• 56 gm (2oz) 70% Dandelion Chocolate Maya Mountain Belize (melted)

Sugar Syrup

• 4 cups sugar
• 3 cups water
• 1 tsp rose water essence

Directions:

1. In a deep bowl, combine mawa, paneer, AP flour, semolina, cardamom powder and baking powder. Add the milk and melted chocolate and mix together slowly. Make sure there are no lumps, but do not overmix or knead the mixture. It will be soft. Cover and rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Using your hands, make small and smooth round balls without any cracks that weigh 10 gm each. Cover the balls with plastic film and keep them aside at room temperature.
3. To make sugar syrup, mix water and sugar in a pot. Heat the solution until it becomes sticky (test this by placing a small, cooled amount between your fingers to see if it forms a string when separating your fingers). Stir in the rose water essence when ready.
4. Pour half the syrup into a wide shallow tray and let rest at a low holding temp of 85F.
5. Heat canola oil for deep frying in a heavy bottom pot over medium heat.
6. Lower the heat and wait for a minute to bring the temp down to around 220F. Then, gently place the dough balls in the oil, a few at a time. It will create small bubbles around the balls.
7. Once they float up, keep on rotating them in the oil so the jamuns are evenly browned.
8. Remove fried jamuns with a slotted spoon to drain excess oil. Using a wire strainer, slowly drop them straight into the warm sugar syrup for 3 to 4 minutes. This process will allow the jamuns to absorb the syrup faster. Then let the jamuns rest in the tray of syrup at room temperature to continue absorbing the liquid.
9. Continue frying and soaking the rest of the jamuns.
10. The wide, shallow tray allows jamuns to have room to expand and absorb more syrup.
11. Serve them warm or at room temperature with the syrup. Garnish with edible gold slither on top.

Visit Besharam in San Francisco and online for more delicious dishes and inspiration.