By Tara Narayan

ONCE in a way I go out to the Marriott Miramar to attend some event or another and it’s always interesting to catch what the buffet lunch or dinner offers by way of something interesting or exciting. So there I was this time around musing before what was captioned as “baked gulab jamun” — hey, what’s that? I found out, it’s more piece de resistance than any of the other things on the dessert table like truffle cake or black forest cake or plum cake and the rest of the patisserie stuff.
Normally, I ignore desserts but always do a dekho at least, don’t laugh. And this time I helped myself to the “Baked Gulab Jamun” and thought everything else paled in comparison. This is so worth writing home about, like that. Look, honestly, I don’t do sweets anymore except once in a blue moon quite simply because I’ve become fussy about sugar doped stuff Indian or Western or anything else…but!
But this time I was on my way out and out of curiosity my eyes fell on the “Baked Gulab Jamun” and did a quick double turn, the friend with me grumbled and left in a hurry but I stayed to help myself to two of the “Baked Gulab Jamun” and wow! They were out of this world, at least the world I live in. These gulab jamun were not slimy with syrupy or redolent of a fried feel about them – take a bow whoever came up with this “baked” take on one of the country’s most classical dessert sweetmeats (except that if you don’t know our gulab jamun trace their roots to Persian times (now Iran or is it Iraq) when they the chefs of some royal kitchen or another created these flour dumplings called “luqmat something”and served them in honey syrup, or something like that…naturally, our gulab jamun then turned up in the Moghul royal kitchens. No looking back after that.
BUT to stay with these recently discovered Marriott Resort-origin gulab jamun I wished I could have packed some away … then I thought can gulab jamun really be a baked dessert and how? Aren’t the balls of dough usually deep fried in ghee before being dunked into a fancy sugar syrup spiked with rose water maybe, cardamom for sure, etc?
Marriott Resort’s Executive Chef Balwinder Singh was happy to clear my doubts over the phone. No, it’s not the basic dough balls “of mava (dry reduced milk solids) which are baked, you cannot do that for the mava would become flat…we do have to deep fry the basic mava and flour dough balls in Amul desi ghee.” After this it’s traditional to dunk these golden brown balls into fancy sugar syrup, but they do something different; it’s something he picked up while at an earlier posting at the Lucknow Marriott Hotel. He shared, “This style of making gulab jamun is exclusive to Marriott kitchen…we put the gulab jamun in “rabri” (sweet reduced milk cream) and put it into the oven for a while, before serving…” This gives the Marriott kitchen gulab jamun that special different feel compared to the common run of the mill gulab jamun people eat out of mithai shops in India. Well!
That’s that then, these gulab jamun too are a fried affair really, but they get some creative VIP treatment to deserve being called “baked gulab jamun” — the result is very agreeable if I may say so. I’d serve these Marriott Resort gulab jamun to anyone who comes calling at home, be it the Queen of Sheba!
They should keep these gulab jamun in the Marriott Resort Cake Shop as a classical Indian sweet with a history to beat all other Indian sweets and Western patisserie too…of course one may overdo it by double or triple lacing gulab jamun with more rabri, also ice-cream, but I cannot do that. I like my sweets minimalistic to use a grand word here! At least don’t take too many liberties with something that invariably it loses its original appeal, and perhaps no longer qualifies with healthy living, or something like that in my book of what is fine and what is gross. Disagree with me if you like.
This is to say the next time you’re at the Marriott Resort at Miramar look for the baked gulab jamun at the dessert table, it’s really special. I’d rather order them for my birthday than cake and I think I will do that. These “baked gulab jamun” are a big hit and never mind that they’re also sweet stuff of dreams, once in a year is just okay with me. Most memorable gulab jamun I’ve eaten in almost a year now, honestly.
TO move on to something else start thinking dates, please. As the sweet treat of them all along with figs, raisins, apricots, black currants, and some more you can think of as dried or semi-dried fruit of Mother Earth – superlatively nutritious and packed with what many of us lack in body beautiful like iron, calcium, magnesium, trace mineral values which we know little about but which make a difference. This week I discovered Panjim’s first Ajfan – the famous chain of stores retailing only dry fruit along with the biggest selection of dates I’ve ever seen. We think of dates as Middle Eastern treat but do you know how many varieties of dates there are out in the desert orchards? Take a deep breath! At Ajfan they have about 22 varieties but I’m told there are something like 50 over kinds of dates.

SOME quick research yielded that dates are ideal for quick energy boosting! A 30g serving of dates provided 81 calories, 1 g of protein, 0.1 g of fat, 20.4g of carbohydrates, 20.4g of sugar, 1.6g of fiber, and 210 mg of potassium. Dates are calcium, iron, magnesium rich with various other vitamins including vitamin B6 and folate. If you’re asking me that’s excellent reason for popping a date or two in your mouth every day. As with prunes and dry figs you will not suffer constipation for these are natural laxative foods. Don’t go overboard though, only two ro three dates per day are okay in a normal diet or you will put on weight although some say dates provide energy without excess calories. Max advice is not beyond five or six dates per day and of course diabetics should consume in very small portions and monitor their blood sugar level.

Dates are not high protein food (although I hear Medjool provide 2 grams of protein), but dates more like quality high carbohydrate food. Most weight-watchers try to decide between eating a banana or a date…both with differing glycemic index, dates range from 42.8 to 75.6 depending on the kind of dates you’re eating. In India we also have dried dates called “kharek” which are used as dry fruit supplement and in various sweetmeats.

And some more: Dates are higher in fiber, copper, iron, potassium, phosphorus and vitamin B5…Medjool have 50 percent more potassium than bananas. In a nutshell dates provide essential minerals, help control heart rate, breathing and muscular function. Dates and nuts make for a wonderful enriching combo and peanuts have a higher protein content than almonds and pistachios, okay. Eat a banana, a date and a handful of nuts daily and that’s a great refreshment break, skip dinner after that.
This is to say drop in at Ajfan one of these days if you have an adventurous, constantly seeking palate and soul! You won’t be disappointed.