GULAB JAMOON (MAKES 42-44 PIECES)
INGREDIENTS:

Maida (flour)- 1 cup
Khoa (fresh and sweetless)- 1 cup
Sugar- 2 cups
Water- 1-¾ cups
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Cardamom powder – ½ tbsp
Cooking soda – ¼ tsp
Saffron – ¼ tsp

METHOD:
Soak saffron in one tbsp of hot water in a plate, put the ghee and the soda and rub thoroughly with your palm till the mixture froths. Add khoa, mash well, add maida and knead well till you get smooth and soft dough. Sprinkle a little water if required.

Make small balls or long sausages, deep fry in ghee or vanaspathi on a slow fire till cooked and golden brown in colour. Remove from the ghee and keep aside. Fry all the other gulab jamoons too.

Make sticky syrup by boiling water and sugar together for five minutes. Add the soaked saffron and cardamom powder. Soak the fried gulab jamoons, when the syrup cools a bit- but is still hot. Serve after two hours. If the gulab jamoons soak up all the syrup, a little more syrup can be added.

TIPS:
Homemade khoa is unadulterated and easy to make. Boil 1-½ liters of milk in a nonstick vessel stirring all the time till you finally get a dry thick mass. This can be stored frozen for quite some time. If using ready-made khoa, reduce the amount of maida in the gulab jamoon.