Jalebi with rabri

Goddess Durga has arrived and it is festival season again, not that I feel much like it sitting ten thousand miles away from home. Back home, there is a festive spirit all around and people are gearing up to celebrate the season that is marked with several other major festivals. That warmth, the excitement, fasting and feasting,family reunion, markets full of puja items, shopping malls full of crowds, the rush, new fashion clothes, full blown shopping and those giant skeletal pandal structures that in a few days will be the most beautiful and ornate puja pandals and the home of Maa Durga for the next ten days.

I will welcome Maa this season with this sweet dish. Jalebi is always special for me. Whenever we used to visit our grandparents' place (which was every year) especially for durga puja I remember we used to get jalebi and kachori and aloo chana ki sabji from the roadside halwai... almost everyday... this used to be my favorite breakfast... jalebi with rabdi... was on the top of the list of everyone and how all my cousins used to fight for that last piece.  Sometimes my  mother and aunts would make it and all of us children would huddle up in the kitchen and be curious and all excited waiting for the treat. Now sitting here and writing this post I so miss those wonderful carefree childhood days. The pampering.. unconditional love of grandparents, the crowd, gossip, laughter, food everything. Still now when I go back to India, mom makes jalebi and hot sabji and kachodi... and I eat them to my heart's content.

Cooking a traditional recipe specially for festivals  always warms me makes me happy and also makes me all nostalgic. I miss them all. Here in my kitchen when  alone... cooking something like this and there is no one always there to taste, chat... but the aroma of cooking, the warmth of festivity makes me feel at home again... sometimes I just  get sad and homesick but then I call mom and ask for a recipe... multiple times... try to recreate... jump with joy when it works... sad when it doesn't and call her again to let her know the outcome. We laugh over the phone, sometimes cry that we are so far away from each other especially during festivals. But again now I have the sweetest and the most caring man in the whole world who is my sous chef, my taster, my  food critic, my everything and with him our little bundle of joy... everyday feels like a festival and keeps me going!

I followed mom's 'world famous' jalebi recipe. For the rabdi however I took the easy route and made it with ricotta cheese in the microwave. Jalebi or zalabiyah in arabic is an Arabian sweet which is very very popular in the Indian subcontinent. It is made by deep-frying batter in a kind of pretzel or circular shape, then soaked in syrup. It has a crunchy and crispy outer shell and is soft juicy inside which makes for an interesting combination of textures when you bite into it.

Ingredients:


All purpose flour ............................... 1 cup

Yogurt ........................................... 3/4 cup
Water ........................................... 1/2 cup

Melted ghee .................................... 11/2 tsp
Corn flour ....................................... 2 tbsp

Baking soda ..................................... 1/2 tsp


For syrup -

Sugar ............................................. 2 cup
Water ............................................ 2 cup
Saffron ........................................... 4 - 5 strands
Green cardamom powder ..................... 1/8 tsp
Rose essence ....................................... few drops (optional)
Lemon juice ..................................... 1/2 tsp

Oil ................................................. for deep frying +2 tbsp ghee

For rabri -

Ricotta ........................................... 1 1/4 cup

Milk ............................................... 3/4 cup

Mix of raisin, cashews and pistachios ...... 2 - 3 tbsp (chopped)
Green cardamom powder ..................... 1/8 tsp

Saffron ........................................... 4 - 5 strands

Condensed milk ................................. 1/2 cup

Method:

1. To make the rabri, mix all ingredients except nuts in a large microwave safe bowl and cook uncovered on high for 7 - 9 minutes stirring every two minutes. Add in the nuts and refrigerate to chill.

2. In a mixing bowl, add all-purpose flour, corn flour, baking soda. Mix thoroughly. Add ghee, yogurt and water and mix well until there are no lumps. Leave it overnight to ferment at a warm place (at a place where you would keep your yogurt to set). I use my oven for this (do not switch on the oven). If not fermented keep for few more hours. Mix it again, add a little water if required and make it into a pouring consistency. Mix with your hands or a spoon in circular motion for few minutes.

3. For syrup- In a heavy bottom pan, add water and sugar. Cook for 15 - 17 minutes on medium heat. Reduce flame to a very low simmer and add cardamom powder, lemon juice and saffron. Mix. Leave the syrup on this low heat while you make the jalebis. 

4.Heat ghee and oil in a flat kadai or frying pan. Pour batter into a ziploc bag. Make a small hole at the bottom of the bag. Then squeeze the ziploc to pour the batter into medium hot ghee giving it a jalebi shape. Deep fry till golden and crisp on both sides.

5. Take out of oil and drop into the syrup. Allow jalebi to remain in the syrup for just a minute (flipping to coat both sides), shake off excess sugar syrup and place onto a plate.

6. For serving, place a hot jalebi on a plate, pour a couple of tbsp of chilled rabri over it. ENJOY!

Notes:

1. It is a  litle tricky dessert. Here are the few things I have learned.
- The fermentation of the batter is extremely important. It helps with the crispy texture and the jalebi's ability to absorb the syrup. So it needs to be fermented till it gets a little sour smell
- Depending on where you kept it in the house, air-conditioning, weather etc, you may need to keep it much longer, maybe ever as long as 24 hours
- If you still do not get fermentation, you can keep it in the oven (without turning it on) as I have indicated already in my post.
- If you still have issues with the fermentation, you can add a quarter teaspoon of yeast and leave the batter for a half hour

2. The temperature of the oil is extremely critical to get the texture right. The oil must be at medium to medium low heat. If too hot, the jalebi will fall apart and if not hot enough, the jalebis will be flat and mushy.

3. Getting the perfect spiral jalebi shape is a little tricky. So if you cannot get it right, don't worry about it too much as long as you get the above point right :)


4. Jalebi and rabri are basically two separate dishes and can be had independent of each other. 

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