Her thoughts bring water to my mouth,
her smell reminds me of good days I spent down south.
the roundabout golden alleys,
dripping with nectar..melting in mouth..oh so divine!!
It's not a snack....not a sweet....it is nothing less than a masterpiece!!
the good ol' jalebi!!!
(by Siddharth Tewari)
Jalebi....written as जलेबी in hindi is a popular sweetmeat in the Indian subcontinent.It is basically a pretzel shaped prepration that is soaked in a sugary syrup called chashni (चाशनी).
Jalebi is considered to have somewhat humbler origins than most of the sweets made in India like barfi (बर्फी) ,gulabjamun (गुलाबजामुन) , rabri (रबरी ), balushahi (बालुशाही) sohan papri (सोहन पप्री ) etc...because jalebi can be made easily and with much less expensive ingredients.
Well one can have jalebi's anytime you want but mostly they are prepared in the evening. You can be sure to find jalebi...at any halwai shop in India.
Most north Indians like to have jalebi in the evening along with another popular snack called the samosa.....will talk about the smashing samosa in another post!!
A lot of people also cherish eating jalebi with yogurt in the morning...I have tried it but didn't like the taste much....eating day old jalebi's dipped in milk is also a popular way to cherish this sweet.
Jalebi's are usually bright orange or yellow in colour. In South India jalebi is called jangiri, but in middle east jalebi is known as zangoola.....
A similar sweet to jalebi is emarti (इमारती). In fact I call one of my closest friend as jalebi....anyways let me share with you how can you make jalebi at your home....
All that you need is
- 2 cups maida or all purpose flour
- 1/4 tablespoon(tsp) baking powder
- 2 tsp yogurt
- 2 1/2 of warm water
- 3 cups of sugar
- 1/2 tsp of cardamom powder
- 5 large tsp ghee or clarified butter
Method:
mix the flour, baking powder, yogurt and cardamom powder in water and then let it ferment. In the mean time make the syrup by dissolving sugar in water and heating it.
Now heat oil in a kadai or a deep fry pan....and put the batter in in circles. Deep fry the batter till it is golden. Then dip the fried piece in the syrup....let it soak.....just a little bit more.....close your eyes now and take a deep breath... if you are lucky enough you can smell it if you cant it's ok....you just need to master the art....dont worry it will come with time....but anyways.....open your eyes to see the bueaty in all its glory...and enjoy!!
till the next time take care....
Siddharth Tewari
