Jalebi
.jpg) Jalebis as served in South Asia | |
| Alternative names | Jilebi, Jilapi, zoolbia (Middle east), jeri (Nepal) |
|---|---|
| Course | Dessert |
| Place of origin | Middle East and North Africa |
| Region or state | South Asia |
| Main ingredients | Maida flour, saffron, ghee, sugar |
| Variations | Jaangiri or Imarti |
| 130 per serving kcal | |
Imaratee and zalebi (jilebi, Urdu: جلیبی, Hindi: जलेबी, Punjabi: ਜਲੇਬੀ jalebī; Bengali: জিলাপী jilapi;Marathi:जिलेबी / जिलबी; Persian: زولبیا zoolbia) are Indian and Pakistani fried sweets. It is made by deep-frying batter in a kind of pretzel shape then soaked in syrup.
It is served warm or cold. It has a somewhat chewy texture with a crystallized sugary exterior coating. The sugars get partly fermented which adds flavor to the dish.
A similar sweet is imarti, which is red-orange in color and sweeter in taste, made in Uttar Pradesh, India. Jalebis in Orissa are also sometimes made of chhena.
In India it is served as the Celebration Sweet of India especially during the national holidays like Independence Day and Republic Day in the government offices, defence and other organisations. Similarly, Jalebi is one of the most popular sweets in Pakistan. Jalebi is also sometimes spelt as "Jalibi".[1]
The earliest written references to the sweet is in a 13th century cookbook by Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi (though the Jews of Egypt have consumed the food earlier than that). In Iran, where it is known as Zlebia, the sweet was traditionally given to the poor during Ramadan. It likely arrived during Muslim rule of the Indian Subcontinent, through cultural diffusion and trade, and its local name is Jalebi as Z is replaced by J in most Indian languages. One of the earliest known Indian references for the sweet exists in a Jain work — Priyamkarnrpakatha — by Jinasura, apparently composed in AD 1450. This work was subsequently cited in cookery books published in later centuries including the 17th-century classic Bhojan-kutuhala by Raghunatha. So one can say with some measure of certainty that the jalebi has existed in the Indian subcontinent for at least 500 years.[2]
Geographic distribution
The Persian word for Jalebi is "zoolbia." In Egypt, Lebanon and Syria it is known as "zalabia" (sometimes spelt as "zalabiya").[3] In the Maldives it is known by the name "zilēbi". This sweet is called "jeri" in Nepal, a word derived from jangiri, and the Mogul Emperor Jahangir.[4]
In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia this sweet is known as Zlebia or Zlabia.
See also
- Zlebia, the same sweet in the Maghreb (North Africa)
- List of Indian sweets and desserts
- Awwamaat
- Zalābiya
- List of fried dough foods
Further reading
- Epicure's Delectable Desserts of the World By Asha Khatau ISBN 81-7991-119-5
