History of 'Jalebi'

The oldest reference of jalebi was cited in 13th century in a cookbook written by Muhammad Bin Hasan from Iran. In Iran, this sweet was traditionally prepared on the occasion of Ramadan to distribute among the poor. At that time it was known as ‘Zlebia’, but later the name become ‘jalebi’ as most Indian languages replace ‘z’ by ‘j’. In context of Indian cuisine, the reference of the sweet was first seen in ‘Priyamkarnrpakatha’. It is a Jain work composed in 1450 AD. So it can be assumed that the relation of this sweet with Indian Subcontinent is almost 500 years old.

Jalebi is typically prepared with gram flour batter. Lime juice or any kind of citric acid is added to give little tang to the sweet. Jalebi is prepared with deep-frying method. The batter is prepared with pouring consistency. A special technique is used to pour the batter in the frying pan in the shape of spiral. For the technique, a cloth is used which is having a hole. The cloth is filled with batter and cook move the hand in the circular manner to pour the batter in the pan through the hole. Sugar syrup is prepared separately and cooled. The fried stuff is then dipped in the syrup and taken out immediately. The resultant product is a sweet spiral shape dish.

In Pakistan, jalebi is used to treat headaches. For this treatment, the sweet is soaked in milk and stand for sometime before eating.

In India, as in West Asia, it is known by various names: jilbi, jilipi, jilapi, zelapi, jilapir pak, imrati, jahangiri and so forth. The ingredients too vary from region to region. In some parts of the country, the batter consists of urad dal and rice flour with a little besan and wheat flour, in some others it also includes semolina and baking powder. Or it might consist, as in Bengal, of chhena and khoa.

 

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NO...... I just got this information from the net.

 

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