Gulab Jamun

We were first introduced to this Indian dessert last year when hubby and Ethan went on a Heritage trail through Little India with a group of hubby's student from the NIE. They bought home some Indian desserts from a very old and famous Indian dessert shop along Serangoon Road.

I enjoyed the Gulab Jamun in particular because it has a lovely milky, sponge-cake like texture, soaked in a sweet, rose-flavoured syrup.

Therefore, this year, when Edna's school asked parents to volunteer making an ethnic food item for their Racial Harmony Day, I decided on trying my hands at making the Gulab Jamun. I felt that Edna's school friends were probably more familiar with Chinese and even Malay desserts, and like our family, have little experience with Indian desserts, delicious though they may be.

Therefore, I scoured the internet for recipes for this. Recipes are not hard to find, nor is the process difficult to do (according to what I read, anyway. ;)), but when I first tried the recipe, it didn't work out as well. Then I stumbled upon another recipe, and this one not only worked out well, it really was a very simple, yet had a wonderful outcome.

I followed the recipe exactly, but made the balls much smaller, thinking that it would help the preschooler eat it without having to take smaller bites. In all, I made about 120 balls.

The funny thing was that someone commented to me that they look like Tang Yuan - and I agree. However, unlike the glutinous rice balls, the texture and taste of the balls were totally different.

Sadly though, the preschoolers weren't adventurous enough to try the Gulab Jamun. The older preschoolers were more game to try, but the younger preschoolers were happy to eat the Oreos (?!) and Keropoks that were offered. LOL!