JALEBI: In a quick and instant recipe

Jalebi is one of the most famous sweet foods around South Asia and Middle East. Jalebi is also known as Zulbia and Zalabia. It is very common in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It is made up of Maida/ Plain Flour batter, crisp-deep fried in oil and dipped in sugar syrup. But I must say that Jalebi is also a famous street food in Jharkhand available in almost all roadside stalls or Thelas and weekly Haats/ Bazar. In this blog I will be sharing an instant recipe of Jalebi.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 15-20 Jalebi

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Western Asia

Ingredients:

For the Jalebi:

Maida/ Plain Flour 1 ½ cups

Besan 1 tbsp

Rice Flour 1 tbsp

Ghee 2 tbsp

Saffron Color As required/ Optional

Lukewarm Water ¼ cup

Sugar 1 tsp

Instant Yeast ½ tsp

Water as required

Oil to fry

For the Sugar Syrup:

Sugar 2 cups

Water 1 cup

Cardamom Pods 2

Lemon Juice 1 tbsp

Directions:

1. For the Sugar Syrup: Take the sugar in a deep pan, add the water to it. Bring the water to boil, let the sugar dissolve completely. Add the crushed cardamom pods. Boil the sugar and water till one-string consistency sugar syrup is ready.
2. To check whether the syrup is of one-string consistency, dip your index finger in the syrup and tap between the index finger and thumb. If a thin string forms, the sugar syrup is done. Remove the Sugar syrup from the heat and add the lemon juice. Mix well and keep the sugar syrup aside covered.
3. In a bowl, take ¼ cup of lukewarm water, to it add the sugar, dry yeast and mix well. Cover the bowl, let it sit for 15 minutes and let the yeast bloom.
4. Meanwhile, in a bigger bowl, add the plain flour, besan, rice flour, ghee and mix well. After letting the yeast bloom for 15 minutes, add the yeast mixture to the flour mix. Mix thoroughly and also add more water as required to make thick batter of a runny consistency. At this process saffron color can also be added to the batter to give the Jalebi an orange color. Mix the batter without any lumps. Keep the batter aside for 10-12 minutes exactly.
5. In a flat bottom pan, heat oil to fry the Jalebi. After 10-12 minutes take the Jalebi batter and pour it into a piping bag with a tiny cut at the bottom or a cone tip bottle. When the oil gets heated, pour the batter into the oil making medium sized spiral shaped Jalebi. At once fry three to four Jalebi in one batch.
6. Once the Jalebi gets golden brown and crisp, take it out of the oil and put it into the sugar syrup for 5-10 minutes. Take it out of the sugar syrup and serve hot.

Tips: 1. Let the yeast bloom in water for 15 minutes only.

2. Yeast added batter must be left to rest for exact 10-12 minutes only or else the consistency of the batter may change and become too fluidic. Try to utilize the batter as quickly as possible.

3. The sugar syrup should be warm when dipping the Jalebi. Hence try to make the sugar syrup just before frying Jalebi.