Jalebi - Valentines day Special

Jalebi is a sweet popular in countries of the Indian Subcontinent such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh as well as many other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, like Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. It is made by deep-frying a wheat-flour (Maida flour) batter in circular shapes, which are then soaked in sugar syrup.
The sweets are served warm or cold. They have a somewhat chewy texture with a crystallized sugary exterior coating. Citric acid or lime juice is sometimes added to the syrup, as well as rosewater or other flavours such as kewra water.



In India, Jalebi is served as the Celebration Sweet of India, popular during national holidays like Independence Day and Republic Day, on which it is supplied in government offices, defence facilities, and other organisations. Similarly, Jalebi is one of the most popular sweets in Pakistan. It is used as a remedy for headaches in some parts of Pakistan, where it is placed in boiling milk and left to stand before eating.

Superb sweet to relish. I made this for valentines day. My mom's favorite sweet. Even my hubby liked it very much. It came out really well for my first time try.

Here it is:

Ingredients:

Maida - 1 cup

Corn flour - 2-3 tsp

Sugar - 1 1/4 cup

Curd - 2 tbsp

Yellow liquid food color or orange food color - 1/2 tsp

Water - 1 cup

Oil - for frying

Cardamom powder - 2 tsp

Saffron - optional( I did not add saffron)

 

Method:

 

• For the batter, prepare the batter the previous day before you are going to make jalebis. If you want to make jalebis on the same day, use rapid rising yeast for the batter to ferment immediately.

• While preparing the previous day, in a bowl, add the maida, corn flour, cardamom powder - 1 tsp and mix it well. add curd ,food color and water to it and mix it into a nice batter. Mix it well with a spatula without forming any lumps.

• When you fall from top it should be a thin one line pouring consistency. Keep it aside for 24 hrs for the batter to be fermented.

• Next day, mix the batter well with the spatula. Pour the batter into a piping bag or zip lock bag or even sauce bottle. I used sauce bottle ( that comes in plastic and can be squeezed easily).

• Meanwhile, prepare sugar syrup. Add the sugar and 1 cup water in a heavy bottomed vessel. We do not want any strings to be formed in the syrup. The perfect consistency is  when it is sticky. 

•  Heat oil in a pan, take the batter mixture and squeeze it from the middle of the pan. It will fry up nicely. Fry on both the sides. Take it using a skewer or chop stick.

• Put it in the sugar syrup immediately and take it out and preserve it.

 

 Hot Hot crunchy Jalebis ready. Serve it with love for your loved ones!

  Sending this to Valentine's Day Recipe Contest  @ Priya's Versatile Recipes.

Sending this to Nivedhanam's giveaway !