Jalebi Recipe - Indian Simmer (2024)

I was putting her to bed and as usual she says Maa, kahani (Mom, story). My already tiny, box of stories was almost empty this time. I couldn’t think of any new friendly dragon or a lion king’s story. But then somehow I ended up telling her about this bus ride I would take with my Papa as a kid. We would go visit my grand mother who lived in another city, a few hour drive away. The bus would go through a jungle, over the mountain, across two rivers and would pass a hanuman temple. I would always looks for real monkeys outside of the temple, but could never see one. It looked like she was starting to like the story, her eyes can tell everything very easily. And then those eyes widened a little more when I told her about this bus stop and the mithai shops (sweet shops) around it. Jalebi? She asked, when I told her about the several sweets in those mithai shops. Maa, I like Jalebi. You never make jalebi, she complained. I think you should make it one day, she suggested. I will, I promised. Pakka (sure), she asked. Yes, I smiled and carried on with the bus ride and jungle.

But after that conversation only a heartless or a fool would wake up next morning and not make jalebis! I had different plans for my first recipe, kick starting this Indian food event Indian Food Palooza but plans are meant to change, right? I had never made jalebi before in my life and although these crunchy little sweet treats were greatly missed after moving to the US, they always intimidated me. But then I thought if I really wanted to have you get out of your comfort zone and try cooking Indian food, then I should get over my intimidation too. So I made some jalebis for my little monster and also for this fun event that today I am starting with two very dear friends of mine and Indian food enthusiasts Kathy and Barbara. Well, the jalebis did not turn out to be the prettiest ones but they sure were crispy, light, sweet and absolutely nostalgic!

The day I announced my book, I, Kathy and Barbara were chatting on twitter. Somehow the conversation turned to Indian food and how some people find it a little intimidating. And then somehow we got this crazy idea for an event where we could motivate people to cook some Indian food and learn a few things about it and maybe along the way can teach us a thing or two as well. And the next thing we know, we were planning Indian Food Palooza (credit for the name goes to Barbara by the way!). Some friends were gracious enough to giveaway some prizes too.

We are very happy to announce a month long event Indian Food Palooza, celebrating Indian food and cooks like you. We would love for you to join us and cook some Indian food this month. Whether you are experienced with cooking Indian cuisine or a little new to it, we encourage you to try something this month and let us know about it. Towards the end of this post I have listed out how you can join us with this event and also the details for some fabulous giveaways we have for you. But before that how about you take a look at the recipe for jalebi?

Recipe in detail:

INGREDIENTS: Makes about 8-10 jalebis
1 cup all purpose flour
2 ½ tablespoon rice flour
1 teaspoon yeast or 3 tablespoon sour yogurt
¼ teaspoon saffron
¼ teaspoon turmeric
For Sugar Syrup-
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
½ teaspoon rose water (optional)
Oil (for deep frying)

METHOD:In 2-3 tablespoon hot water dissolve yeast. Cover and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Now combine flour and spices in a large mixing bowl. Add yeast and adding water, little at a time make a thick batter. Cover and let it ferment for an 1-2 hours.
If using yogurt instead of yeast then repeat the same process just the batter would be thinner in this case. Exactly like a pancake batter. Cover and ferment for 6-8 hours or overnight.
In the meantime make a one strand sugar syrup cooking sugar and water for 15-20 minutes on medium heat.
After fermentation the batter should be light and flowy. Add extra water if needed.
Heat oil for deep frying. Using a funnel, piping bag (with tip number 12), a Ziploc bag (cut a small opening), a jalebi maker of a plastic ketchup bottle with a nizzle like opening, pipe the batter into the oil in circular motion.
Fry until the jalebi is golden on both sides. Take it out of the fryer and drop into the hot syrup for 5-7 seconds. Strain the extra syrup out and take the jalebis out. Serve with yogurt, rabdi or just as it is.

To be eligible to win a prize you must:

• Post an Indian dish on your blog between March 1, 2012 and March 31, 2012.

• Link your dish up using the linking tool at the bottom of the post; only one entry per person please. Entering your dish on any of our sites will have it display on all three.

• Put a link in your post to this post so that your readers can join us too!

• Prize winners will be chosen and winners notified March 31, 2012 using the email included on the link created. Winners will have until April 4, 2012 to respond with shipping information or another winner will be chosen.

Please note: We want to encourage everyone to join us and share their experience but our
sponsors are shipping prizes directly and have requested that we limit the shipping area to the
Continental USA.
Prizes to be awarded include:

• 2.2 lbs Organic coconut flour from Tropical Traditions for one of my readers that
  link up a recipe. (We have three separate prizes from this company; each of us will be posting something unique. Visit Kathy and Barbara to see what they have in store.
• Set of Indian Spices from My Spice Sage. Ten (4 oz) resealable bags. See website for full product information.
• J.K. Adams artisan maple cutting board from Vino Luci store; a wine accessory and gift store.

My other two partners in crime:
Kathy of The Colors of Indian Cooking is making Aviyal
Barbara of Creative Culinary is making Mumbai Sandwich