More stories from India. My little Sunny boy was a very picky eater till his previous trip to India. During our last visit, when he was just about two, we visited India and he fell in love with the food. It was wonderful to see him explore the restaurant Masale Dose, initially with suspicion and then experimenting with all sort of combinations -with chutney, with sambar, with both and with neither. Then there were the Gobi Machuris, Chilli Panner, Noodles and the other Chinese restaurant staples and finally the Dhabha staples like Naan, Panner and surprisingly Kalmi Kabaab. However he did not seem to have a sweet tooth. It was just Gulab Jamoon for him especially the giant but absolutely tender and warm Khoa ones in Lucknow. This trip was not as long as our previous trip so he did not get to eat out as much as I would have wanted him to. In the two years since our last visit, he has acquired quite a sweet tooth and now in his list of favorites are Jalebi, Kaju Katli, Rasgulla too. We had quite a lot of Jalebis. But It was never enough. I have been trying to make some at home because it is his favorite food and we do not always get to go to Sukhadia's to get their awesome Jalebis. Making some at home sounded reasonable. My grandmother was an expert at making Jalebis. Every Deepawali that was what she made. I had asked her for the recipe long back, but I did not write it down and now she is senile and her recipes are not fool proof as it used to be. So I had to do a lot of trial and error.
Jalebis are not a straight forward affair. They need to crunchy and almost uniformly hollow where the sugar syrup eventually enters and settles down making the Jalebis heavenly and sweet. There should be a discernible hint of tartness in the background plus it should remain crunchy after a while. That is a lot to wish for in a dish with a handful of ingredients out of the cupboard and needs no special equipments either. But to get to the end product that meets my specification and that is appreciated by my little Sunny boy is not easily at all. I have seen them all in my previous attempts, the soggy ones, the flat ones, the somehow-smells-off ones. But now I think I am getting there. A few more times, we should be good enough. On my list is to try bread flour and use the beater.
We will need,
All purpose flour (Planning to try bread flour too, will update the result) 1 measure
Yogurt 1/4 measure
Turmeric a pinch
Sugar 1/2 tsp for every 1/4 cup of flour
Corn starch 1/3 measure
Sugar 1 measure
Saffron a pinch
Ghee to deep fry
Method:
Jalebis are not a straight forward affair. They need to crunchy and almost uniformly hollow where the sugar syrup eventually enters and settles down making the Jalebis heavenly and sweet. There should be a discernible hint of tartness in the background plus it should remain crunchy after a while. That is a lot to wish for in a dish with a handful of ingredients out of the cupboard and needs no special equipments either. But to get to the end product that meets my specification and that is appreciated by my little Sunny boy is not easily at all. I have seen them all in my previous attempts, the soggy ones, the flat ones, the somehow-smells-off ones. But now I think I am getting there. A few more times, we should be good enough. On my list is to try bread flour and use the beater.
All purpose flour (Planning to try bread flour too, will update the result) 1 measure
Yogurt 1/4 measure
Turmeric a pinch
Sugar 1/2 tsp for every 1/4 cup of flour
Corn starch 1/3 measure
Sugar 1 measure
Saffron a pinch
Ghee to deep fry
Method:
- Mix the flour, turmeric, yogurt and a little water to make a dough that resembles a very thick custard.
- Stir in the sugar and set it in a warm place to ferment, preferably over night so that it develops the much desired tartness.
- Once the batter is well fermented, stir in the corn starch and beat the mixture very well. It is something like kneading the bread dough. Keep stirring the mixture till it is fairly elastic. Set it aside to rest for another or so hour.
- Mean time combine the sugar and equal quantity water and simmer till the syrup reached the one thread consistency. (That is the syrup pulled between the thumb and forefinger should form a single thread.) Throw in the crushed saffron and set it aside to cool.
- Now heat the Ghee.
- Beat the Jalebi batter well once more and fill it into squeeze bottles. Gently squeeze Jalebi spirals into the hot oil and fry till golden brown of both sides.
- Remove the Jalebi and place it onto paper towels to drain it well.
- Once the Jalebi is well drained, pop it into the sugar syrup. Soak the Jalebi in the sugar syrup for a few seconds and remove to a serving dish. Serve warm for Breakfast with warm milk, else as a dessert with Rabdi.
