Jalebi

Ah Jalebis!! 

You need:

Maida/ All purpose flour – ½ Cup
Cardamom Powder – 2 Pinch

Active dry yeast – 1/2 tsp 

Corn flour – 1 tsp
Oil – 1/2 tsp
Yogurt – ½ Tbsp
Warm Water – 2.5 Tbsp (6)

Sugar – 1 Cups

Water – ¾  Cup

Saffron – pinch

Lemon Juice – ½  tsp

Cardamom Powder – 1/8  tsp

Vegetable oil/ Ghee (Clarified butter)  - For deep frying

Making the Jalebi batter:

1. In a mixing bowl, add maida, cardamom powder, dry active yeast and corn flour. Mix thoroughly.
2. Mix oil, yogurt and water in a bowl. Mix well. Add little at a time to the flour mix so that there are no lumps.
3. In a larger pot add very warm water and place the bowl with the batter  inside the larger bowl. Just make sure that the water does not spill  into the batter. Cover the larger bowl with a cling wrap and allow the batter to rest for 30 minutes. You can also pre heat the oven to 180 F for 5 min. Switch off and keep the batter inside the oven, with the door closed. After fermenting batter will be a little lacy. So don't panic. :)

Making the sugar syrup:

1. In the meantime, start making the syrup by mixing water, lemon juice, saffron and sugar in a heavy bottom pan. Cook for 15 minutes on medium heat till you get single thread consistency. You can also use a candy thermometer to make your job easier. Once the syrup reached 200 F/ 95 C, reduce flame to low, simmer for 10-15 min. Add cardamom powder in the end, when the syrup is ready. Else cardamom loses its flavor. Once the syrup is made, switch it off. 

Making the jalebi:

1. Mix the fermented jalebi batter well and put it in a ketchup or mustard bottle with a spout . You can also use a zip lock bag  and snip one end once the batter is filled up. Another option is to use a piping bag (nozzle  number 3). 
2. Squeeze out the batter into the hot oil in small circular motions. To check if the oil is ready, put one  drop of batter in the oil, the batter should sizzle and come up without changing color right away. Jalebi should be in a pretzel shape about 2-3 inches in diameter.
3. Fry until both sides are golden color.
4. Gently remove jalebi using a tong or skimmer.  Shake off excess oil and place directly into sugar syrup.
5. Allow jalebi to remain in the syrup for just a minute (flipping to coat both sides), shake off excess sugar syrup and transfer onto a plate.
6. You can store jalebis in an air tight container for 4-5 days unrefrigerated.

*Traditionally jalebis are deep fried in ghee/ clarified butter. If you don't want to use ghee to deep fry and still want that hint of ghee, just add 2 Tbsp of ghee in the oil you plan to fry jalebis in.