← Nouns Cooking · Indian

Ingredients

• 200 g Sugar
• 120 ml Water
• 1 pinch Saffron
• ¼ tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 125 g plain flour (maida)
• 1 tbsp Cornflour (cornstarch)
• ¼ tsp Baking powder
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric (or a few drops of yellow food colouring)
• 2 tsp plain yogurt
• 1 tbsp Ghee, melted
• ½ tsp lemon juice
• 150 ml water, as needed
• oil or ghee, for frying
• 1 tbsp Pistachios, finely chopped, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Make the syrup: simmer the sugar and water for 5 min until slightly sticky between your fingers. Add the saffron, cardamom and lemon juice and keep it warm on the lowest heat.
2. Whisk the flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarbonate and turmeric with the yogurt, ghee and lemon juice. Add the water gradually, whisking for 2 min, to a smooth, thick batter that flows like ketchup.
3. Pour the batter into a squeeze bottle or a piping bag with a small (about 4 mm) hole.
4. Heat 4–5 cm of oil or ghee in a wide, shallow pan to about 170°C (340°F). Pipe spirals of batter straight into the oil, working from the centre outwards and finishing with a cross-stroke to hold them together.
5. Fry for 1–2 min, turning once, until crisp and pale gold on both sides. Lift out, drain briefly and drop straight into the warm syrup for 30–60 seconds.
6. Lift onto a plate and serve hot, scattered with pistachios if you like.

Tips

• Hot jalebis and warm syrup are the secret: that’s how they soak up the syrup and still stay crisp.
• If the spirals spread and turn flat, the batter is too thin; whisk in a little more flour.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Hebbar's Kitchen Cook With Manali BBC Good Food Ministry of Curry