Jalebi Or Jilebi ~ ICC August 2011

After skipping last month's challenge I was almost about to skip this month's Jalebi Challenge too, thrown by Srivalli as part of the Indian Cooking Challenge. After dilly-dallying for more than 20 days I finally made them the other day with lot of apprehensions. I set aside my resolve to abstain from eating sugary stuff just for these cuties!!


They turned out near perfect - crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. But wait a second, they lost their crispiness after a couple of hours. Maybe a little more cornstarch and from what I gather from fellow bloggers, slightly thicker consistency of the batter might make things better. That is for the next time though. 


But watch out as they quickly dissolve into your mouth and disappear from the plate. My little one asked me if they were 'sweet pretzels' :). I was amused at her association of these jalebis with pretzels. Can't blame her, can I ??

Ingredients - 


All Purpose Flour / Maida 1/2 cup
Cornstarch 2 Tbsp
Curds/Yogurt 1 cup
Lemon Juice 1 tsp
Hot Oil 1 Tbsp
Orange Food Color (I used saffron strands) a pinch


Oil for Deep frying about 2 cups


For Sugar Syrup - 
Sugar 1 cup (I used raw sugar)
Water 1/2 cup
Lemon juice 1 tsp


Note that in many sweet shops jaggery syrup is used instead of sugar syrup taking it to another level and very filling one at that!!

Method Of Preparation - 


Mix Maida, cornstarch, curds, lemon juice and hot oil into a thick lump-free batter.


Cover it and let it ferment overnight. There are people who ferment it for 24 hours too ! (I let it sit for about 14 hours or so )


Beat the batter for a couple of minutes to incorporate some air in it. Note that the batter I made was of pancake batter consistency.


Pour the batter into a piping bag, thick plastic cone with a small slit at the tip or a ketchup bottle. The slit I made was just about size of a pepper corn.


Now is the time to get the sugar syrup going. Boil the sugar and water until a single thread consistency is achieved and remove from fire. Squeeze in some lemon juice to avoid crystallization of the syrup. Make sure the syrup is always warm until the last jalebi is done.


Heat the oil in medium flame, when it is smoking hot, reduce to a low flame.


Pipe the batter in desired designs directly into the hot oil and let it cook on both sides just until they change color. It took about 4-5 seconds for each of them to get cooked .So take care to handle them before they get a chance to get burnt. (Speaking from my experience!!)

Dunk them into the syrup for about 30 seconds and remove them with a skewer or a fork to a serving dish.


Serve them warm / hot and savor the delicious Jalebis!!


Preparation Time 40 min (excluding Fermentation Time 12-24 hrs)
Serves 5-6