Mom has always been about homemade food! She never liked buying sweets; instead she would prepare it from scratch. As a kid, it was one of my favorite parts of the season. I used to help her in whatever little way I could and taste all the delights much before anyone else did. This time, I asked her to teach me the method of preparing perfectly soft gulab jamuns, a treat loved by every Indian. Gulab Jamuns are fried dumplings that are prepared with solid milk and flour and then dropped in sugar syrup for it to soak up all the sweetness. It gets fluffy, juicy and melts in your mouth. It was my biggest pregnancy craving and it turned me into a sweet tooth. Arvind not only took the trouble to get some every other week, but he also learned to prepare it at home using the store bought instant mix. Preparing gulab jamuns with instant mix is quite easy but doing it from scratch is a little tricky. I failed several times until mom showed me this technique of preparing gulab jamuns with sweet potatoes!
The concept of using sweet potatoes to prepare sweet indulgences is very common in Bengali culture. Mom took the same idea and prepared these gulab jamuns, which were not only was easy to prepare but also turned out super soft and moist!
