Gulab jamun
Confection
Top 10 pairings
Gulab jamun (also spelt gulab jamoon or golab jamun) is a South Asian sweet of soft, deep-fried milk-solid dumplings soaked in a warm sugar syrup scented with rose water and cardamom. The name joins the Persian gul (flower) and āb (water) — for the rose syrup — with jamun, the Hindi word for a dark, round berry the browned dumplings are said to resemble.
Picking a good onedrag
Plump, glossy, rose-warmGrained, sour, fizzing
Soaked and settledEveryday bestRoom temperature, or warmed a minute: the festival-plate and gift-box piece, eaten as it comes with chai or coffee.
Smell it closeSweet and milky, the rose faint now; sugar is most of what comes off it
Press one gentlyFirm and cool right through, loosening as it comes back to room temperature
The syrup it sits inThicker and stickier, clinging to each piece, a dried sugar ring round the rim
The piece itselfColour patchy or blond in places, the shine dulling where it sits above the syrup