Sunday, November 18, 2012

Photo Essay: Making of a Jalebi (quite literally)

You may have seen this a 100 times! Running to the corner shop to get an evening fill of freshly fried snacks and standing for minutes as the halwaai completes the process of the writing on the oil creating jalebis out of pale white batter and also frying away the samosas on the side (i.e. if you have guests for tea).



Here are a few pictures I took at a stall in Mussorie, India of Jalebis and some facts I learnt along the way.

The origin of Jalebi are found in ancient India when it was referred to as Kundalika or Jall-vallika.
Semi-solid batter is filled in a muslin cloth with a little hole in it
Overtime, Jall-vallika became jalebi.
The cloth is held like a bag and the holder pushes down the batter through the tiny hole
The earliest mention of the dish is in 13th century cookbook.
Here are some typical shapes drawn out of batter

The dish has spread through most of South Asia and parts of Middle East.
Fry away the Jalebi
The dish can be enjoyed with curd. Left over evening snacks can be enjoyed with a glass of hot milk before going to bed.
These are not ready yet: The Jalebis are dipped in a sugar syrup


Jalebis are best served hot

1 comment:

Mansi said...

Wonderful photos and the words complement them beautifully.