I remember the days when southall was always tbe place to be, walking up to Jalebi Junction after a hard, long day of shopping and eating felt like such a treat. Watching the jalebis being made always left me in awe and filled me with such excitement. Cue Covid and quarantine, we now have to do it all ourselves. The cravings are real, so we make our own!
Ingredients
For the Sheera
3 cups sugar
2 cups water
A pinch of green cardamom powder
1 tsp lemon juice
For the jalebis
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp oil
4 tbsp yoghurt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp yellow colouring (powder)
1 cup ghee (clarified butter)
1 cup oil
Method
For the Sheera (sugary liquid)
1. Prepare the sheera by adding the sugar to a medium heated pan then adding the water. Mix well and stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved
2. Once the sugar is dissolved add a pinch of cardamom powder and lemon juice to avoid chrystalisation. Leave to cook for about 10 mins. Take off heat.
For the jalebis
1. In a mixing bowl, add the flour, oil, yogurt, baking powder, yellow colouring, a little water and beat well either using a hand beater or electric beater. I ended up using about 1 cup of water to get a good consistency for the batter, but ensure it’s not too watery. TIP – if it does get a little too watery, add a teaspoonful of flour to even it out.
2. Heat a large pan in the ghee and oil on medium heat. Make sure it is well heated (but not boiling) before starting on the jalebi batter.
3. Add the batter to a piping bag, make circular shapes on the oil. The jalebis will sink a little before coming to the surface. Make sure you only make a maximum of 4-5 jalebis in each batch as they need room to fluff up. Flip the jalebis over to fry evenly to make it crispy.
4. Once the jalebis have fried for a few minutes, move the jalebis one at a time to the luke warm sheera. Let the sheera soak in well.
5. Move to a wiring rack to cool. Spread them out on the wiring rack so they remain crispy.
Fatty’s top tip ~ drizzle some double cream over the jalebis and it is a KILLER COMBO!!!!
