My thoughts on making Jalebi

I love jalebi - who doesn’t. I usually buy the instant jalebi mix and make them, this time around I wanted to make them from scratch - had to send it to my cousin who is expecting a baby soon. You know sometimes it’s scary or may be I am over reacting, but I am not comfortable with gifting or making artificial foods for pregnant woman. Just for the sake of the picture above, I made few with orange and yellow color.

So, there are many jalebi recipes out there – basic ingredient is of course “all purpose flour” or “maida”. Some recipes mention fermenting the batter overnight, and some just for 4 hours. Yeast is also added to the batter to aid in fermentation. Semolina/rice flour is added for extra crunchiness. After going through lots of recipes over the net, here’s what I came up with the ingredients I had at home. The jalebis turned out to be great. The first time I made them, the shapes weren’t perfect – they represented the maps of all the countries in the world . So, second time I was a bit careful – and I am also jotting down my thoughts while making the jalebis. First the ingredients.

For Batter, (makes about 25-30 jalebis)
1. 2 cups all purpose flour (maida)
2. 2 tbsp – rice flour
3. 3/4 cup buttermilk + ½ cup warm water ½ tsp baking soda
4. 2 tsp baking powder

Combine ingredients 1-3 in a bowl. The batter should have a consistency like the pancake or dosa batter. Keep the batter in a warm place for fermentation overnight. I tried to use the batter after 4 hours, the jalebis were fine, but didn’t have enough crunchiness and they absorbed too much oil I thought. Some recipes use sour yogurt or yeast with warm water for fermentation – I don’t have both of them, so used the buttermilk (available at most grocery stores).

Add the baking powder to the batter few minutes prior to making jalebi. Previously, I added it before the batter underwent fermentation. The batter ended up with lots of air bubbles in it and it was difficult to pipe them into hot oil, because the air bubbles would break the flow of the batter from the piping tube. Food colors can also be added to the batter.

Frying the jalebis and getting the right shape:

I am no way expert in this – but here are my observations. I wish I had pictures for all the points, shall try to do next time.

1. The oil has to be maintained at the right temperature, not too high and not too low. Too hot oil will not yield good shape jalebis and too low, will not make them crunchy.
2. I maintained the temperature at about 350F-355F. If you have a fryer with temperature adjustments, its awesome – less work worrying about temperature. For experienced people like my mom in law, she can precisely guess when the oil is ready and when its not. I still didn’t reach that stage, so have to use a thermometer.
3. So, when you pipe in the batter into the oil, if the batter instantly rises up to the top, then the oil is too hot – we cannot make good shaped jalebi unless we are very quick. I am not that quick, so at the temperature I mentioned, I have enough time, about 3 seconds before the jalebi rises up to the top. So I count tic tic 1, tic tic 2 and tactic 3 – During this time the batter is still at the bottom of the pan, I finish the shape I want , and as soon as I am done, the jalebi as whole rise to top of the oil with sizzling bubbles (shown in the picture)

4. Fry the jalebis for about 2-3 minutes until golden and instantly dip into the sugar syrup ( boil 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water,1 tsp cardamom (elaichi) powder and 1 tbsp lemon juice until one thread consistency). The lemon juice makes a whole lot of difference. Apart from being sweet, the jalebi should also have a hint of tanginess and the lemon juice gives exactly that and of course the fermented batter also adds to the tanginess.
5. Oh! and mainly, for piping the batter – use ketchup bottle, I don’t know who came up with this idea but most websites and recipes convey the same. But I feel the nozzle of the ketchup bottle is too thin. After frying, the jalebis will shrink a bit, making them harder than crispier. So cut the nozzle until the bottom, to get larger diameter jalebi with perfect crispiness

I hope this writeup will help anyone who wants to make jalebis at home. Do make them and enjoy the hot jalebis with vanilla icecream – its heavenly.