Directions
History of Jalebi
Jalebi is not an indian dish in fact it is a close cousin of “Zulubiya” or Zalabia as it is known in the Arab world.
Infact Ibn sayyar al-warraq wrote a book called Kitab al Tabiq in the 10th century and this is the oldest surviving cookbook on arabic cuisine. So most probably jalebi first started in the area of present day bagdad and from there spread to the Arab world and then came to india.
There are different types of jalebis based on either the size of the batter. Based on batters jalebi can be made with maida, urad dal, chenna, khoya, suji, bread. But the most popular is using maida.
Jaleb or jaleba is a large size of jalebi and can be eaten with rabri, milk or curd.
To make crisp jalebi pipe them thin.
Jalebi in basically a fermented fried dough steeped in sugar syrup. But it can also be made into different shapes like luqmat.
For Batter
- Flour, all purpose (Maida) – 2cups/250gms
- Water – 1¼ cup/300ml
- Oil – for frying
For Syrup
- Sugar – 4cups/1kg
- Water – 1¼ cup/300ml
- Saffron – few strands
Steps
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1
Done
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For the sugar syrup, mix sugar and water and bring to a boil. Add saffron or yellow colour to it. Make sure the syrup is neither too thick or too thin. If thick the sugar will coat the jalebi making it sticky and hard, if it is too thin then it will make the jalebi soggy. |
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2
Done
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For the batter mix flour and water both and keep it in a warm corner overnight to ferment. DO not over it, I placing a lid leave a little space open. |
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3
Done
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Using your hands whip in air into the batter. Do this for 10mins with short breaks. Fill the batter into a squeeze bottle. |
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4
Done
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Heat Oil in a flat pan and pipe the batter in hot oil, Fry till crisp and the colour of the jalebi turns light brown. Remove and add it to sugar syrup. The temp of the syrup should be warm. |
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5
Done
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Note -If the batter over ferments add a handful of maida and water. This will delay/stop the fermentation for some time. |
