Jalebi.. And the memorable Dhara Ad... for Krithi's Baby Shower

I read this Quote somewhere " I BELIEVE IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT"...Because I'VE BEEN LOVING MY MOTHER SINCE I OPENED MY EYES...." Friends, our Blogger friend Krithi is blessed by a baby boy, welcome baby :) A hearty congratulations to Krithi for her first baby Kavin, stay blessed !! Good Luck, for all upcoming sleepless nights and endless joy .. 

I feel lucky to be a part of this Food blogging community simply for being able to join hands in people's joys and happiness. 

Whenever I think of Jalebi, I recall this Dhara Oil Ad where the kid runs away from home and then when herad that his Mum has made Jalebis, got back. That was the cutest Ad ever, I fell in love with it :) And since that time, I somehow have always linked Jalebi with Childhood. So when Reva asked for a virtual baby shower for Krithi, the first thing that came in my mind was to prepare Jalebi, simply because I linked it to the Childhood again ... 

Jalebi is basically a north Indian sweet, spiral in shape filled with juicy syrup. Its enjoyed most when hot and fresh, straight out of oil and sugar syrup. I found this recipe here, although I could not replicate it to the T,  I still managed to get it done alright. The only thing I missed was the color which I should have used for that tempting look. 

Rounding up the perfect spirals was bit of a task really, and hence I felt that the pieces were a bit larger than what they should really be. I tried it with the Icing set, next time would use a plastic cone, must give better results. Nevertheless, the taste was awesome and the texture was amazingly crispy. I am soon gonna try it again with some color on, for better pics :)

What you need ?

• 1 cup All Purpose Flour
• 4 tbsp Yogurt
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 2 tbsp Melted Ghee
• 2 tbsp Corn Flour
• 1 tsp Yeast 
• Oil for deep frying

For Sugar Syrup

• 2 cup Water
• 2 cup Sugar 
• 4-5 strands Saffron
• 1/4 tsp Green cardamom powder
• 1 tsp Kewra Essence
• 1/2 tsp Lemon Juice

How to make ?

• Mix yeast in warm water and let it rest for 4-5 minutes till it gets frothy. 
• Add APF and Corn flour  and mix. Add ghee and yogurt and mix well until there are no lumps. 
• Keep the mixture in a warm place for an hour. I kept in my oven with light turn on. 
• After an hour, mix again and add more water if required to make it of pouring consistency. I added hardly a tbsp of water at this stage. 

• While the batter is on rest, prepare the Sugar Syrup and keep aside. you can reheat it later for fresh serving. 
• In a heavy bottomed pan, heat water and sugar together and get it to the boiling. Cook for 15 minutes on medium flame. 
• Add rest of the ingredients and simmer for next 10-15 minutes. The syrup should be of two strings. 

In the making

 For frying the Jalebis, heat ghee and oil in a deep pan, To check if the oil is hot enough, put one drop of batter in the oil, if it sizzles up without changing the color. 

• Pour batter into piping bag and squeeze the bag to pour the batter into oil with spiral motion. You can make 3-4 thin strips of spirals at one time. 
• Deep fry till golden on medium flame and cook from both sides. 
• Take out of oil and put into the Sugar syrup immediately. Allow the spirals to remain in the syrup for just a minute  and take them out. Serve immediately

My notes 

• Keep the Sugar Syrup on low flame while making Jalebis, it should not be at room temperature else the Jalebis will get Soggy quickly. Neither should it be too hot else they will not absorb the syrup properly. 
• The fermentation of the batter is extremely important, you should actually be getting that sour smell from the batter before you start making the spirals. 
• Keep the leftovers in Fridge and you can reheat them, although they might turn soggy since they will absorb ore moisture when left for long. 
• The Sugar syrup should stick to your fingers, that will be the right consistency for it. Otherwise it will be too thin and runny and will not stick to the Jalebis well. 
• Serve these Jalebis will chilled Rabri or Ice Cream :)

Have a look what others are cooking for Krithi , visit Radhika, PJ, Revathi, Shama, Denise, 
Priya, Priya Sreeram, Dhyuthi , Anu, Priya Suresh , Vardhini, 

Off to my own event : Lets Celebrate - Indian Sweets , Spotlight - Raksha bandhan