Happy Birthday, Meeta!

(This is my contribution to Meeta’s MM. This month Meeta has invited us for her virtual birthday party.)
Remember the ad in which a cute kid gets angry with everyone at home, runs away from home, and is found and brought back by his servant? The kid’s mom makes his favorite sweet, and on seeing it he exclaims “Jalebi” in a very cute voice. He’s content eating them, forgets all about leaving home, and when his moms asks him if he wants to go away he answers “Jana to hai, magar bees pacchis saal baad”. Well, that was my favorite ad for quite some time and jalebis have been my all time favorite since quite some time. I don’t have a sweet tooth, but jalebis and gulab jamuns are two exceptions.

This one’s for you Meeta, as you celebrate another birthday. Since the time I have seen your blog, I have admired it for the plethora of recipes and the superb photographs. This sweet is also for a sweet little princess. My best friend delivered a baby girl last week and though I was not there to share the special moments, I celebrated in my own way by eating jalebis.

Jalebis

(Adapted from this recipe)
Yields around 20-25 jalebis
Prepation time: 2 hours for fermentation plus an hour for frying and making syrup.
Ingredients
For the batter:
1.2 cups all purpose flour (maida)
2.11/2 tbsp rice flour
3.1/4th tsp. baking powder
4.2 tbsp curd (plain yogurt)
5.11/4th cups warm water
6.1/2 tsp saffron threads, slowly dry-roasted and powdered
7.Ghee or vegetable oil for frying

For the sugar syrup
1.3 cups sugar
2.2 2/3rd cups water
3.1/2 tsp green cardamom seeds powder

Method
1.Mix the all purpose flour, rice flour, baking powder, curd and 3/4th cup of water in a bowl (preferably a ceramic bowl). Mix well with a whisk.
2.Add remaining ½ cup water and 1/8th tsp of saffron powder, and whisk until smooth.
3.Set aside for about 2 hours to ferment.
4.Whisk thoroughly before use. Do steps 5 and 6 simultaneously.
5.Prepare one-string sugar syrup by dissolving sugar in the water. Just before the syrup is ready add saffron and cardamom powder.
6.Heat oil in a kadhai. Pour the batter in a steady stream (or coconut shell with a hole) into the kadhai to form coils. I added the batter in an empty ketchup bottle. Make the coils very fast. If you hold the batter for too long, then the coil will separate out. You won’t get it right the first time, but with practice and patience you will get it right.Deep fry them until they are golden and crisp all over but not brown.Remove from the kadhai and drain on kitchen paper and immerse in the syrup.
7.Leave for at least 15 minutes so that they soak the syrup.

(Baby snakes in sugar syrup:)
8.Take them out of syrup and serve hot.

Did you know?: Jalebis taste wonderful with buttermilk. When I first saw someone dipping a jalebi in buttermilk, I gawked in horror. Then that person convinced me to try it and I loved the taste. The next time you make/eat jalebis, dip one in buttermilk and let me know how you find it.

View the round-up here.