Jalebi Not Jollibee

Beignets at Cafe Du Monde

I love funnel cakes. Period. Elephant ears? Beignets? Churros? Zeppole? Whatever you call them, I can promise you one thing – if you needed to get rid of them (fast), I’m your girl! If you think about it, fried dough on its own is genius, but fried dough plus sugar? Englightenment. There’s something about that mouth feel to it; the combination of the fresh crispy golden brown outside (also for the eyes) and the soft, chewy, warm melt-in-your-mouth inside – all laced with sugar.

The American “funnel cake” is associated with carnivals, fairs, seaside escapes, and I am not one to disagree with that. Growing up I am almost 100% sure I only agreed to go to the strawberry festival or citrus festival to eat elephant ears sold by “carnies” (and sometimes strawberry shortcake). Or the occasional zeppole my sister would bribe me with (from a local Italian pizza joint called Pasquale’s) so not to get in trouble for going out with her boyfriend. The summer before college started my mother bought us summer passes for Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, and even though purchasing food or drinks at theme parks are essentially ripoffs, I did it anyway. They topped theirs with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! What can I say? I’m a sucker for things like that.

Spaghetti, Burgers, Milkshakes at Jollibee

Delving deeper into the Indian cuisine, I decided to follow my sweet tooth. While a lot of Indian desserts stem from milk/powdered milk, sugar (jaggery), and what seems to be coconut, I found one that I had all of the ingredients in my kitchen…and actually was selected because it was described as the Indian funnel cake, but better. Jalebi. Jalebi are made by deep frying a wheat based dough in concentric circles which are then coated in a sugar syrup. How to pronounce? I’ve heard JAH-lee-bee which to my people (Filipinos) immediately think of this popular fast food restaurant in the Philippines that serves a Filipino take on American foods. Perhaps you’ve heard of it; the mascot is large yellow and red bee wearing a white chef’s hat. (Can you see where he’s hiding in the photo?)

As I’ve learned with other Indian recipes, a lot of their them take time and patience in waiting. Traditional jalebi also requires a few hours of fermentation, but these are not completely traditional jalebi. Let’s call these Instant Jalebi with a modern spin!

Instant Jalebi

• ½ cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• ¼ cup Greek yogurt (vanilla or plain or even not Greek)
• 1/4 cup of water
• Pinch of baking soda
• Drop of orange food coloring
• ¼ tsp of rapid rise yeast

1. Mix the first two ingredients together in a bowl. Then add the yogurt and water and mix (with a spoon) til the batter is ribbon-like. [To be completely honest I continued to add more water, a teaspoon at a time, until it achieved the right consistency. According to some sources it should be as thick as vada batter.]

2. Then add pinch of baking soda and a drop of orange food coloring and continue stirring. [Remember the batter needs to be able to flow continuously through a cut plastic bag (ziploc or piping bag) or else there will be discontinuous jalebi formation.]

3. Place the bowl in an unused oven for 30 minutes to allow fermentation to occur. Then add the yeast and stir again. You are ready to place the batter into a piping bag.

4. You can use a piping bag with a tip or just cut off the corner of a sandwich bag after filling with batter. [Note: if using a tip with a piping bag, I used a Wilton #18 Star Tip. Using a tip meant for writing letters will produce very thin circles.]

Syrup: Traditionally this syrup uses flavors such as cardamom and saffron or rosewater to give the jalebi color and a distinct taste, but I omitted them because our kitchen lacks those things and replaced them with vanilla extract and orange/yellow food coloring.

• ¾ cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 drops orange food coloring
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan and heat on medium until boiling.

2. Reduce the heat to low and add the vanilla extract and food coloring. Heat it for about 15 minutes with some stirring until it is one thread consistency. [One thread consistency means when the syrup is placed between your thumb and forefinger and you pull them apart, one thread should form between your fingers.]

3. The syrup should be thinner rather than thick like honey, and in case you have passed this point, I just added more water to decrease the viscosity of the syrup.

4. Keep this on low heat once one thread consistency is achieved.

Frying

1.  Heat a small saucepan on medium filled half way with oil. Depending on the size of your saucepan, use the piping bag filled with batter and 3-4 co-centric circles or a swirl shape, making sure the end of each jalebi formed overlaps with the main body. [Basically to close to circle.]

2. Fry until light gold and crisp on both sides. Then place directly into the sugar syrup or onto a plate to let drip excess oil.

Dipping

1. Place cooked jalebis into the syrup and coat both sides. Then set them on drying/dripping racks to rid excess syrup.

2. Enjoy hot!

A couple years ago I won this superlative: Most Likely to Move to India. I haven’t yet, but I guess I would if there would be jalebis! 😀

❤ The Food Scientist