Jalebi

Jalebi is a popular mithai recipe from the indian cuisine. Its deep fried spiral shaped batter which is dunked in sugar syrup. Usually served with milk or tart yogurt for a flavor contrast this sweet is popular all over the indian subcontinent.

Come end of September and its time for autumn festivities.Hindus all over India celebrate Navratri (nine days of fasting & feasting), worshipping Goddess Durga  in nine pristine forms, each form depicting a virtue. Ramlila  is a traditional, nine to ten-day long drama staged during these days in northern india to portray the life events of Lord Rama and his victory over the demon king Ravana. The last day which is a celebration of this triumph is observed as Dusherra.

Year after year we looked forward to Ramlila days.There would be a nip in the air, schools would be closed for autumn break and bazaars gearing up to witness the hustle and bustle of upcoming festivals. Quite a lot of big and small fairs dotted our town,each locality showcasing its grandeur through decorations, much pomp & show, some having lighted displays, other luring crowds with musicals. Before you go into thinking about a fairyland, the ramlila grounds were dusty and crowded, cramped shoulder to shoulder with people, with flashy neon or fluorescent light banners and the music shows - a cacophony of loudspeakers which were an ear sore but, in those days I LOVED all of that. My enthusiasm could be might low if I visit the fair now but back then, ,every evening, dressed our best, we left the house together to visit a new ramlila ground.

Walking through the dimly lit, narrow roads and holding each other's hand, carrying goodies in the other, we would come back home around midnight from the last day at ramlila, after having witnessed the demon effigies burnt to ashes and the fireworks that followed to cheer the triumph of good over evil.Legs aching due to long waits in the queue for almost everything but our tummies stuffed to content with piping hot jalebis fresh from the halwai stalls and our hands full with knickknacks bought from the toy stalls. All we chatted about were the rides at the fair and how to make next few weeks to Diwali, fun!

What is Jalebi?

Jalebi is a spiral deep fried sweet that is made with a batter of flour, chickpea flour, cornstarch, yogurt and yeast. The batter is deep fried and its soaked in sugar syrup long enough to sweeten it but not let it turn soft. Its crispy and sweet. Jalebi can be compared to a funnel cake but its eggless and fermented. As the fermented batter is piped into the hot oil, it swells and comes sizzling up,changing its color to golden. The crisp concentric fried batter are is served with cold unsweetened milk or rabdi. However, my favorite way to serve hot jalebis is with dahi (plain unsweetened yogurt).

How to make Jalebi?

You would think that jalebi is simply fried batter, what could go wrong! Trust me, a lot. The key to making perfect jalebi is the consistency of batter. The consistency should be velvety- ribbon like, it should be thick but it should flow in a continuous string. It does take practice to understand it fully, however I am writing a lot of tips and tricks that will help you understand the details of jalebi making. Too runny or thin batter, jalebi will be thin and crackly. Too thick batter, they will be thick and doughy and won't absorb the syrup!

In addition to batter, the temperature of the oil also plays an important roll. Flat jalebi often result from low heat frying, too high- the jalebi will burn.

Tips for Perfect jalebi

Indian Cooking especially mithai (sweets) making rides on a lot of approximations and tips and tricks learnt through experience. In our homes, rarely gadgets are used to test the oil or sugar syrup temperatures or times. Lets say we trust our sight and smell senses when cooking. Mithai making is an art and gets better with practice. Here are few of the things I have learnt from my jalebi making trials.

• Sugar Syrup :-Addition of lemon juice to the syrup prevents crystallization of sugar as well as lends it a mild tart flavor which is typical to  jalebis.
• Food Color :- Adding food coloring to the batter is a choice, if you do not want, skip it. I like to add color because I think it looks nice to the eyes.
• Batter :- Usually the batter gets a little runny after fermentation, so its better to keep it on the thickish side before you set it out to ferment. You can always add water later to get the right consistency.
• Batter Consistency :- One of the ways to check the consistency of batter is to try to drop it in the bowl from a height, about 6-7 inches , it should fall is continuously, similar to how a lace or ribbon flows.
• Piping the Jalebi :- You could use a Ziploc bag with a hole cut up at the end to make the jalebis, but I find using the squeeze bottle much easier since if you keep on pressing the Ziploc bag, after a few batches, the hole becomes large in size and the jalebis become very very thick. I find the ziploc method quite messy too. The squeezable bottles are available in baking aisle for a couple of dollars. But trust me, really easy to work with. Attaching a nozzle to a piping bag works fine too, just keep in mind that the thickness of the jalebis  will depend on the nozzle size. Do not use a very big size nozzle since the jalebis will not cook properly.
• While frying if the temperature of oil is too hot, the jalebis will come up sizzling, the batter will tear or have bubbles all over, it might every scatter in the oil and jalebis will turn over crisp and not absorb syrup properly. If the oil temperature is too low, then jalebis will remain flat and raw inside. Once you start frying, it will take you 1-2 minutes to know the right temperature of oil, the jalebis should come up within few seconds (2-3secs) of piping into oil and swell as you fry but at the same time do not get too brown. Don't worry I also had few over brown ones, so you will know when its right.
• Shape of Jalebi :- Getting the right shape of the jalebis takes time, they do not have to be precise and perfect but as you make more and more, you will get a hang of it. Just keep in mind to squeeze the bottle/piping bag batter with a constant pressure and work in concentric circles, outside towards inside. Again, practice will help.However, whatever shape they come out,they will taste good.
• Texture of Jalebis :- The right texture of the jalebis is crispy on outside, if you take a bite, you will notice the tubular crossection filled with syrup. Without getting more technical,just know that they are not meant to be soft.
• You will have leftover syrup after the jalebis are soaked. I usually dunk baked bread croutons/slices in them and serve as a snack. You could refrigerate it and use to make  gulab jamuns if you like. Also, it can be used for making beverages too.
• Jalebis can be stored for 2-3 days. Do not refrigerate. Just store at room temperature. I however, do not recommend or prefer storing them. Make small batches and serve rightaway.
• In case you are making the jalebis for vegans, skip the yogurt in the recipe and use a little more water to get the right consistency of the batter.