Vegan Gulab Jamun is an Indian dessert to die for. These gulab jamuns come together in a jiffy, using bread and cashew cream, but they are so delicious, no one can tell they are divinely dairy-free.
A gulab jamun is the ultimate Indian dessert. You've likely run into these red-gold orbs of deliciousness scented with cardamom and dunked in a flavorful sugar syrup at an Indian restaurant. Or you've likely tried making them at home. Either way, you know that to eat one is to fall in love with it forever.
Traditionally, the gulab jamun, like most Indian sweets, is made with cream, or a reduction of milk called khoya. But the version I have for you today is vegan, of course, and therefore uses neither: instead, it uses a common ingredient that you likely already have in your kitchen, white bread, along with cashew cream.
The milk is completely unnecessary: the bread jamuns are just as delicious and no one will be able to tell the difference. But moving away from dairy can make a world of a difference: to your own health, and to the health of the millions of cows caught up in India's milk production system.
I am always a little amused when people I meet assume, more often than not, that my veganism is a byproduct of being Indian born. I was not raised in a vegetarian household, and the truth is, only about 30 percent of India's population is vegetarian (not vegan). Indian vegetarians have always included generous amounts of milk products in their diet. Ghee, yogurt, buttermilk and milk are eaten every day in most homes, and their consumption -- and the production of milk -- is on the rise in India.
But at the same time, there is an almost naive lack of understanding among most Indians about where that dairy comes from. The cow is revered as holy by Hindus, but no one really seems to question the cruel abuse of cows in factory farms and tabelas that supply India's greed for milk. For those who still believe that cows do not die to produce milk, here's some food for thought: what do you think happens to the male calves, while you're busy glugging the milk produced by his mom-- for him? He either gets turned out onto the streets or is starved to death or gets sent to a slaughterhouse, along with tens of thousands of others like him.
And what happens to the mom, kept in a constant state of pregnancy through artificial insemination until she's four or five, once her usefulness has waned and she can't produce milk anymore? Until recently, she -- despite still having more than a decade of living left in her -- would have been sent to slaughter (India is one of the world's largest beef exporters). But under a new law passed very recently, cows in India can't be slaughtered anymore. While that would be great if the government were to guarantee care of the cows after they have finished producing milk, what will very likely happen is that these cows will be turned out on the streets, to join the already large population of stray bovines in India. Once there, they will end up eating plastic bags for lunch or starving to death anyway.
I am not even getting into all the other reasons why any animal loving Indian should shun milk: the hormones used to make the cows produce more milk, the painful machines the animals' udders are hooked up to in order to extract the milk, the filthy conditions the cows often are forced to live in, and the lack of medical or any care through their lifetimes. Here's an excellent piece from The Hindu newspaper. India's dairy production system looks a lot today like factory farms here in the United States. Gone are the days when your friendly neighborhood milk vendor would milk the one or two cows he kept in his backyard and treated like family. Most milk sold today in India comes of terrible cruelty. It's not enough to end the slaughter of cows-- it is time to stop consuming milk because it's just as cruel and just as deadly as any slaughter is.
The other, very good reason to avoid milk is, of course, your own health. Milk is packed with artery-clogging cholesterol and sugar, and although you will often hear people argue about the importance of calcium from dairy, there is really no evidence that the consumption of calcium from milk products helps strengthen your bones. You aren't a calf, are you? India and the United States, both large consumers of dairy products, have among the world's highest rates of osteoporosis and diabetes. In India, where dairy consumption is growing each year, researchers have found a new phenomenon: a rise in osteoporosis rates among young women.
On the other hand, calcium is abundantly available in vegan foods and in vegetables. If you look through the nutrition labels of most of the recipes I share here on Holy Cow!, you will know that you can get good quantities of calcium from most homemade vegan food. And that calcium is better absorbed by your body than the calcium in cow's milk is. Many vegan foods you can buy off the shelf are also fortified with calcium.
I have been veganizing Indian sweets over the years, and I am a little surprised myself that it took me a while to get to this, my most favorite of all Indian desserts, but as you will no doubt agree if you try these, they were worth the wait.
This Vegan Gulab Jamun is all that: it is spongy and soft and it soaks up all of that cardamom-y, sugar-syrup goodness into its very core. It is also really easy to make: your hands-on work is no more than 15 minutes, tops. The jamuns themselves need just two ingredients: bread and cashews. And the sugar syrup needs three: sugar, cardamom, and a squeeze of lemon juice. You do need oil for frying, and water, of course, but I'm not counting that one. Imagine so much deliciousness with just six ingredients. But you don't have to imagine -- try 'em!
More Indian Vegan Sweets:
Vegan Gulab Jamun
Ingredients
For the gulab jamuns:
- 2 ½ cups white bread crumbs (about six to eight slices of bread. Trim off the crusts and use the white portion only. It is important that the breadcrumbs are ground pretty fine, so you get smooth, even jamuns.)
- ½ cup cashews (blended with ½ cup water into a very smooth cream)
- Vegetable oil for deep frying jamuns
- 2 tablespoon chopped nuts (like cashews, almonds or pistachios, for garnish, optional)
For the syrup:
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 8 green cardamom pods (crushed with a mortar and pestle so the seeds are ground. You can use 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
Make the sugar syrup:
- Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to a simmer, add the cardamom and lemon juice, and let it cook for another five minutes. Turn off heat.
Make the gulab jamuns:
- Place the breadcrumbs in a bowl and mix in the cashew cream, a little at a time until you have a smooth, pliable dough that's not too stiff or dry.
- Divide into 14 equal sized pieces and roll each into a ball. You want a very smooth ball with no visible cracks on the surface. You can use some oil to grease your palms, which will help you shape the jamuns more easily.
- Heat oil in a wok or a fryer. You don't want to oil to be too hot, around 300 degrees is ideal. If the oil is too hot, the jamuns will brown very fast on the outside and not cook all the way through.
- Now place the jamuns, a few at a time so as to not clutter, into the fryer or wok. The oil should bubble only slightly. Don't let the jamuns settle at the bottom. Use your spider or a slotted ladle to keep moving them around until they become a deep, reddish color.
- Remove them to a plate lined with a paper towel. When the jamun is still warm but can be handled, use a very thin pin or needle to poke holes all around. This will help it better absorb the syrup.
- Place the jamuns inside the syrup while the syrup is still warm but not very hot. They should be completely immersed. Let them stand for 3 hours before serving, so they have enough time to soak up the syrup.
- Serve jamuns with a drizzle of the syrup and a sprinkling of nuts (optional).
Douglas Anderson
Thank-you for this recipe, this is one I am definitely going to try. Here in South Africa we have a similar dessert pastry, the koeksister. The Malay version is closer to this being a fried ball of dough.
Thank-you for your inspiring recipes! Being vegan these days has never been easier.
Vaishali
Hi Douglas, Interesting about the koeksister. This gulab jamun is as close as we get to a doughnut in Indian cuisine. 🙂
Mary
Hi. To make the crumbs, do I put the bread in the oven until crunchy and then grind? Thanks!
Vaishali
Don't toast the bread. Use slightly stale bread that's dryer.
Mary
Hi! What is the role of the lemon juice? Do I need to leave the jamuns in there for three hours?
I poked holes and left them in for five mins then waited a bit after taking them out and they are not sweet. Is it bc of the lemon juice? Or because I need to leave them for longer? In the middle of making them right now!
Thanks!
Vaishali
The lemon juice adds flavor to the sugar syrup. You need very little. Leave the jamuns in the syrup for longer until they are soft and the syrup has soaked them.
Christine
Do the cashews need to be roasted or raw before turning them into a creamy consistency?
Vaishali
No need to roast, use raw cashews.
Vandana
Hi!
The recipe is amazing! I have a clarification - the jamun balls are getting flaky (not cracking or breaking, but doesn’t have a smooth consistency) on the outside after I put in sugar syrup. They end up losing the dark brown color to a light one and has a very uneven texture.
Could this be due to more ratio of bread crumbs?
Vaishali
Hi Vandana, so happy you tried the gulab jamuns. I've not encountered this specific problem before, but my assumption is that the bread crumbs are probably not ground fine enough, which could cause the jamuns to not hold together firmly. Try giving them more time in the blender/food processor. Don't change the ratio of bread crumbs to cashew milk.
Vandana
Thank you, Vaishali, for the inputs. Will try that soon enough! The jamuns are addictive 🙂 Thank you for making vegan life sweeter 😀
Soniaa
Hello Vaishali,
These Jamuns I made half the quantity cose was not sure how they will be… for my surprise they are excellent… will make this week full quantity 😉
Vaishali
Awesome, so happy you loved them Soniaa.
Neetu
Thank you for touching upon the abuse of cows in dairy industry. Not many chefs talk about it. You did a great job!!!!
Vaishali
Thanks, Neetu!
Geetha
Vaishali, as a vegetarian turned vegan - mostly for health reasons, as you do, come across many indians who cannot give up their dairy. Diary puts women at a higher risk for breast cancer. Sugar in the milk puts people higher risk for Diabetes and in addition adding all the extra sugar make it worse. I love all your indian healthier sweets. Will have to try some time.
Asha Ganesan
Can I use store-bought breadcrumbs?
Vaishali
They could be too dry.
Flavia
I was so happy that I'd found a vegan version of my favorite dessert of all! Thank you for this recipe! It is delicious!
Vaishali
So happy you loved it!
Suguna
I made the gulab jamuns exactly as you say. It came out very well.very tasty and delicious also. I poke the jamoons in three or four places with safety pin before putting them into the sugar syrup.so they juicey to the core.thank you Vaishali for this tasty and easy one
Vaishali
Awesome, so happy you loved them Suguna.
Neetu
Thank you for touching upon the abuse of cows in dairy industry. Not many chefs talk about it. You did a great job!!!!