(Vegan) gulab jamun

 Gulab jamuns are a favorite at our house across all ages! When we became vegan we were all sad to say goodbye to these delicious little balls dipped in sugar syrup. Somehow I felt any veganized version would not even come close and avoided trying any vegan recipe for it. I couldn't resist for long and finally gave this recipe a try. They came pretty close to the original! I do want to try a few other variations as well. That said, I would say this is a simple recipe and good enough. Good ROI :)

Ingredients:

For the Jamuns:-

• 2.5 cups white bread (I used as simple a white bread as possible - from a bakery rather than the commercial ones because they have too many ingredients. If you're confused just go with an organic option)
• 1/2 cup cashews 
• 1/2 cup water
• Oil for deep frying

For the sugar syrup:-

• 1.5 cup water
• 1.5 cup sugar

Method:

1. Heat the sugar and water together till the sugar has dissolved. Continue heating till the mixture forms a one string consistency (I do not do the string test, just ball park. The syrup should have changed the color a little and not become too sticky).
2. Break apart the bread into fine crumbs.
3. Blend the cashews with water in a grinder to make a smooth cream. Couple of options here:
1. If you've a powerful blender like Vitamix you don't need to soak the cashews
2. If you don't have one then soak the cashews in the water (from the recipe) for 4 hours or so. Or heat the water a little and then soak the cashews for an hour or so
4. Mix the cashew cream with the bread and knead into a soft dough.
5. Heat the oil to medium-low heat.
6. Take a small portion of the dough and roll into a ball in your hand. If the dough is sticky, put some oil on your hands.
7. Once you've formed balls for all the dough, start frying the balls 3-4 at a time.
8. After frying a batch, put it on a plate to absorb all the oil. Try to poke a few hole using a needle (for better absorption of the sugar syrup).
9. Then put them in the sugar syrup. The sugar syrup should be warm.
10. Let them soak for a few hours (they will get a little bigger in size as compared to what they were after frying).