Jalebi- Indian Celebration Sweets

At the end of our “sweet” week in college, I’d like to post another great Indian recipe for delicious, syrupy sweets called Jalebi. Whatever you can say about jalebis one is for sure: it is the Celebration Sweet of India. They are present in government offices, defence facilities, and other organisations during all national holidays. They are also irreplaceable in everyday life: eaten as an evening snack, breakfast food served with thin flatbread poori, or even considered as a remedy for headache (dipped in boiling milk).

Jalebis were first mentioned in 13^th century Persian cookbook as traditional sweet given to poor during Ramadan. It likely arrived to India during the period of Muslim rule. Also in North Africa (Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria) we can find similar sweet known under its Arabic name: Zlebia.
These orange pretzel-shaped delicacies glisten and tempt from the shelves of Asian sweet-shops, but not everybody knows that they taste best when served hot and fresh. Even for this reason it is worth to make Jalebis at home.

 Chef Tom ready to make some Jalebi J

Ingredients:

2 cups self raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup yogurt

Oil for deep frying

For sugar syrup:

1 cup sugar

Few strands saffron

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

2 Tbsp rose water

1.      Mix the flour, baking powder and yogurt together in a bowl into a batter. (Batter consistency should be pancake like, if  its too thick- slightly dilute with lukewarm water)

2.      Cover with clean cloth and keep aside for a while to ferment.

3.   Meanwhile prepare the sugar syrup. Melt the sugar with water (with sugar- water ratio 2:1). Add rose water and bring to boil to get a one thread consistency. To check for one thread consistency, carefully dip the tip of your index finger into the syrup, touch your finger and thumb together and gently tease apart. If one thread is formed between your finger and thumb the syrup is done. Turn off fire, add the saffron strands and cardamom and stir well. Keep warm.

4.      Pour batter into a pancake dispensing bottle or piping bag.

5.      Heat the oil in a deep wok-like dish. To test for the right temperature, drop a small amount of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and rises to the top of the oil, the oil is hot enough. Keep the flame on medium at all times to ensure all round cooking of the jalebis.

6.      Now hold the pancake dispenser over the hot oil and squeeze the batter into the oil into a wiggly, randomly coiled circle. Squeeze out several at a time.

7.      Fry till light golden and then remove and put directly into the warm sugar syrup.

8.      Allow to soak for 2-3 minutes and then remove. For best results serve warm.

Tips:

• Usually orange food colouring is added to commercially served Jalebis. However to make this sweet healthier we decided to avoid artificial colours and experiment a bit with sugar syrup to add natural colour and unique flavour to our Jalebis. Instead of rose water which has really sweet, strong and distinctive flavour we used a bit of fresh orange juice. It added lovely orange colour and fresh citrusy twist to the syrup. We also decided to add a few strands of saffron while the syrup was still simmering on a low heat. Saffron is a perfect equivalent for orange food colouring as it is a strong natural dye.
• If you like thin and crispy Jalebis you should use pancake batter dispenser to create your pretzels. For thick and juicy ones try piping bag. Why? Squeezing the batter out of any plastic dispensed requires some strength and precision. Eventually you’ll have to grip it quite hard to squeeze the thin spout of batter into the oil. With a piping bag the hole at the tip will be just as big as you cut it. Therefore you can make the opening slightly bigger and enjoy thicker jalebis forming on the oil surface. 

Jalebis come in variety of different shapes.  Every chef has got his own, creative style.