About Jalebi
Jalebi – the deep-fried pretzel-like sweet from India, is well-celebrated among food lovers. Across the Indian sub-continent, it is readily available at sweet shops, restaurants, and street carts. The batter of Jalebi is prepared with white flour, shaped into twisted and tangled concentric circles, deep-fried till crunchy, and later dunked in saccharine sugar syrup. The moment Jalebi batter touches the hot oil, it starts taking whimsical shapes as if it has a mind of its own. The pair of hands seasoned with years of practice could only master the tactful technique of shaping a perfect Jalebi. The man sitting beside the wide and flat skillet filled with oil, the batter filled in a muslin cloth, moves his wrist like a magic wand in a rhythmic motion over the kadhai, and voila, there you have Jalebi ready. It is always absorbing to watch the halwai make Jalebis.
My Jalebi Recipe
My obsession with Jalebi Recipe unfolded two years back. It took me two years to bring the perfect recipe to the blog.
The task of disciplining Jalebi batter on a pan filled with piping hot oil is no less than taming a dragon.
Finally, we have a failproof jalebi recipe after many trials and errors.
Reasons To LOVE This Jalebi Recipe
easy to follow
requires minimal ingredients
always yield crisp and tasty jalebi
no yeast is used to ferment the batter
Watch Jalebi Video
My Tried & True Tips
Sharing with you a few notes scribbled in my recipe journal after each trial. I hope this might help you understand the process in a better way. Jalebi Batter: You need only 6 ingredients – maida (all-purpose flour), corn starch, curd, baking powder, ghee, and a pinch of turmeric. The batter comes together in 5 minutes.
The batter should be thick with a dropping consistency, a little thicker than the idli dosa batter.
Sour Curd: Use only sour curd to mix the batter, no milk. If required, use a tablespoon or so of lukewarm water. Please keep in mind if the batter is too runny or liquid, the jalebi will not take the right shape. Fermentation: Inside the oven or microwave are my pet spots to keep the batter for fermentation. During the summer or humid season, the jalebi batter gets fermented in 6 – 8 hours, but it might give you a heart wreck during the cold season. During winters, wrap the bowl containing batter with a woolen piece of cloth and then keep it for fermenting, it may sound funny but this trick really works. Jalebi Shape: To shape the Jalebi, you can either use the piping bag, plastic squeeze bottle, or a muslin cloth. Initially, it is best to make small-size Jalebi with one or two concentric circles.
To test the batter and perfect the wrist movement, try making a few jalebis on a plate or kitchen counter. Don’t get intimidated by the idea of creating a perfectly shaped Jalebi.
Sugar Syrup: For soaking the jalebi, we need a thick and one-string consistency of sugar syrup. To test the sugar syrup, take a spoonful of it and try to check it in between your thumb and index finger. If the syrup sticks to your fingers and forms one string when pulled apart, it is ready for jalebi.
The sugar syrup should be hot while soaking the jalebi. It can be flavoured with saffron, green cardamom powder, kewra, or rose water.
Frying Jalebi: While deep-frying the Jalebi, keep on moderating the heat. Jalebi gets the desired colour and crispness when deep-fried at the right temperature.
The fuming hot oil might result in a burnt and disoriented Jalebi. Also, do not flip the jalebi again and again while frying. Let them get crisp and light brown from one side, then flip and cook from the other side. Traditionally ghee (clarified butter) is used for frying jalebi. But I always prefer flavourless refined oil for frying the jalebi, and the taste is truly delicious.
Soaking Jalebi: After frying, transfer jalebi to a metal colander for 5 – 10 seconds. This step ensures the removal of excess oil from the fried jalebi. Next, soak the fried jalebi in the warm sugar syrup. The jalebi and sugar syrup should be warm, not lukewarm or at room temperature. Let the jalebi sit in the sugar syrup for 5 – 10 minutes to absorb the syrup.
Serving Suggestion
A jalebi is best-served piping hot after soaking in the sugar syrup. It is crisp, warm, and tastes best. Many food lovers enjoy crisp and hot jalebi with chilled rabri, phirni, or curd. In North India, jalebi is served for a hearty breakfast with poha or kachori.
Storing & Reheating
As I said earlier, Jalebi is best served piping hot. After a few hours at room temperature, it starts turning soft and loses its crunch. I would not recommend storing it in the refrigerator for many days. However, you can store the batter in the refrigerator and make jalebi whenever you like. For reheating the jalebi, I prefer using the air-fryer or crispy lid of the Instant Pot. Within 5 minutes, they both make jalebi crisp and hot.
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