I used to love making these little sticky sweet treats and then somewhere along the line I made them and an oopsie happened and they didn’t come out the way they should have and after that I never made it again.

We only eat jalebi during prayer time, seeing as it is super super sweet and as Indians will say, “There goes my sugar” or as my cousins would say “sugar high here we come.”

With our annual prayers coming up, my mum is making me practice and practice all the recipes over and over again so that there will be no need to taste test when I am making them for the prayers… after all no tasting is allowed before the prayers only once the service has been completed is eating allowed. Of course I barely make it to the table.

If you watch me very carefully, I only make sure I take the tray full of sweetmeats to carry it from the prayer room to the kitchen and I walk soooo slow and I munch myself full that by the time I sit down at the table to eat, I am stuffed and just looking at the food makes me feel funny what with all the sugar surging through my veins, it surprises me how I am not bouncing off the roof.

My original  jalabei recipe was one that required fermentation overnight and seeing as my mother doesn’t like to make things too in advance when it comes to prayer food, she doesn’t always make jalebi. Also my nerves are shot, sometimes things never ever ferment for me like they should.

I came across this recipe online, I can’t remember the recipe but I just typed in instant Jalebi recipe on google and up popped this recipe.

My parents loved the taste testers, I loved the taste testers, but I only allowed my dad one. The last time he taste tested my gulab jambo, he ate soo many that the following morning he woke up with the stomach flu and blamed me. I was not taking my chances this time around.

Ingredients:

For the syrup:

• 2 x cups castor sugar.
• 1 x cup water.
• 1 x tsp rose essence.

Method:

• Boil all the above ingredients together till the sugar has dissolved.
• Switch off the stove ring, but leave on the ring to remain warm.

For the batter:

• 6 x tbsp. luke warm water.
• 1 x tsp castor sugar.
• 1 x tsp instant yeast.
• 1 x cup cake flour.
• A few drops of orange food colouring.
• 1 x tbsp. melted ghee.
• 1 x tbsp. gram flour.
• 1 ½ x cups water.

Method:

• In a bowl, mix together the 6 tbsp luke warm water with the sugar and instant yeast. Cover the bowl and allow the yeast mixture to grow for 15 minutes.
• In another bowl, mix all the remaining ingredients together.
• Pour in the yeast mixture.
• Mix till a nice smooth batter is achieved.
• Cover the bowl and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
• Pour the batter into a squeeze bottle .
• Pipe the jalebi into the hot oil and deep fry till both sides are nice and crispy.
• Immediately remove from the oil and drop into the syrup.
• Allow both sides the soak in the syrup for 30 seconds.
• Shake off the excess syrup and place on a cooling rack.
• Allow to cool completely.