Floating Fun Balls

Once again we are expanding our cultural horizons! Today's entry was what we came to call floating fun balls. At first look one of us thought it looked like a bowl of raw eggs that went bad with the yolks having turned brown. On closer it turned out to be little balls of something in a syrupy liquid. After considering who brought it in we did a little research and found out that we were eating something called Gulab Jamun or honey soaked milk pastry balls.

Is it bowl of raw eggs!

Nope it's Gulab Jamun but you knew that!

These are a dessert popular in India and at Indian weddings that is made of a dough consisting mainly of milk solids, traditionally, khoya, an Indian milk product (buffalo milk) that is rolled into a ball together with some flour and then deep fried. It is then put into in a sugar syrup flavored with cardamom seeds and rosewater, kewra or saffron. Sure sounds omplicated doesn't it? Well apparently the powder to make them is now commercially available so it can be prepared relatively easily.

They were served with ice cream...good idea! 

Will they float, they do because they are floating fun balls!

In some ways it does look a little like a fried egg

The balls were well soaked with the sweet syrup. It tasted good, though the overwhelming taste was the syrup. It was kind of like having a soggy DD munchkin. There was no way we were in tune to the subtle tastes of the rosewater or cardamon. We were totally in tune with the suggestion to have them with ice cream. Once they started disappearing we noticed they actually floated in the syrup and thus they became known as floating fund balls. Thanks to our cook today who made sure that our culinary awareness get ever broader.

Stopped by for a meeting and got some Gulab Jamun...fun!