Crispy Rose Jalebi

Jalebi is a sweet that is popular all around India. I love Jalebi when they are warm, crunchy and juicy. A batter made of all purpose flour, corn flour, curd and in this case, rose syrup. The fried little chakras or Jalebis are soaked into warm sugar syrup, which soaks up the sugar syrup leaving the Jalebis crispy on the outside and juicy inside.

A squeeze of lemon juice is added to the sugar syrup, so that the sugar syrup does not crystalize. And this keeps the Jalebis juicy. In my hometown, it is one the most popular dessert that is served at weddings. Me being someone who likes being innovative, made the Jalebi a little out of the box. The actual Jalebi are orange in colour, with a cardamom flavor to it, this recipe has a rose flavor and tint of rose color to the Jalebi.

The Pistachio that is used to garnish the Jalebi is what pops the flavor of the ROSE JALEBI with an extra crunch and adds to the flavor of the rose. I used Rose syrup in the recipe, you may use rose water with a few drops of red food coloring. Next time you have guests over, try making this Jalebi for dessert or as sweet and they are going to be super impressed! Don't forget to mention where you found the recipe. ;)

Ingredients: (makes around 25 jelebis)

For Jalebi:

1 cup All Purpose Flour
4 tbsp Corn Flour
4 tbsp Yogurt
2 tbsp Rose Syrup / Rose water
2 drops of red food coloring
1/4 Baking Soda
Salt, a pinch
1 cup/ 200 ml water
Vegetable Oil
Pistachios, to garnish

For Sugar Syrup:

2 cups Sugar
1 cup Water
4-5 whole Cardamom
2 tsp Lemon Juice
3-4 tbsp Rose Syrup
2-3 drop red food coloring

Instructions :

To make the Jalebi batter, in a bowl, add your all purpose flour, corn flour, baking soda, and salt and give a stir using a whisk.
Next add yogurt/curd, rose syrup, red food coloring and add water little at a time and mix well, and make a batter without lumps. (The batter should not be too thin, or too thick).
Cover with a lid, and set aside until we prepare the sugar syrup.
To make the sugar syrup, In a deep pot, melt sugar with water, cardamom and lemon juice.
Allow to come to a boil, in around 5 minutes, when the sugar syrup achieves one string consistency, immediately remove from flame.
Add rose syrup and red food coloring and mix well and set aside on a cooling rack.
Transfer the batter to a squeeze bottle using a funnel, or you may use a piping bag too.
In a wide and large frying pan, pour the vegetable oil and allow the oil to come to high temperature, now on medium high flame, squeeze the batter into spiral shapes and bring the end of the spiral to the middle while releasing pressure on the squeeze bottle, this way, the layers of spiral stay attached while frying.
Fry until the sides start to brown a little, immediately drain and drop the Jalebi to the warm sugar syrup. Allow the Jalebi to soak the sugar syrup, and let it stay in the sugar syrup until you make the next batch of jalebis.
Using thongs, remove the Jalebi from sugar syrup and serve. Garnish with crushed pistachios.
Serve as it is (warm/ cold, preferably warm) or enjoy with rabri or any milk dessert of your choice.

Note:

The Jalebi might turn a little on a browner shade while frying, it is quite natural, and a fully rose color when fried is not possible to achieve.
The sugar syrup has to be warm, not too hot or too cold, as hot syrup will make the Jalebi soft and cold syrup will not allow the jalebi to soak up the sugar syrup.
The process might look a bit tedoius, but it is very therapeutic if you follow the instructions.

Do try this recipe and don't forget to share your experience/feedback with me here in the comments or feel free to send me a mail. Also, do tag me at #taystedit if you try out my recipes on Facebook, Instagram etc so that I can see when you make it. ♡♡♡♡

Rose and Cardamom flavored Fairy Floss/ Candy Floss/ Cotton Candy.🌹

It's breast cancer awareness month and it's pink everywhere! Today my little girl wore pink as it's Pink day and it happens to be a long weekend ahead so I thought of trying out something that I have been wanting to explore and try since so long.

I took this chance and created our very own Cotton Candy/ Candy Floss / Fairy Floss or in our home town it's called Pullu mittayi (grass candy) or Panji mittayi (cotton candy). And since rose is something that I always fall head over heels for, I decided to try a rose and Cardamom flavored candy floss. And after much anticipation, I tried and voila! It was done in less than half an hour and I couldn't believe it. 😍

My little sister stared at me while I spun sugar like a piece of cake. Like recall, y it was that simple! It was simple because the whole process requires a lot of attention, if done right then you are in for it! A few pointers would be to check the sugar syrup, it shouldn't be too thin or too thick. You can nail this simply by dropping a few drops of the sugar syrup in a small bowl of water. If it takes shape and comes out on your finger it is done. And the next pointer is that yih need to work fast with this, a little hot but worth to give it a try! The only thing that I would correct the next time is to add the flavorings at the end, right before pouring it on a greased counter top/ silicon baking mat.

I will definitely be coming up with more recipes using this delicious candy floss.. Something that I used to love as a child and still do.. So stay tuned!

This post is my contribution to raise awareness on Breast Cancer that can be treated and cured if we check ourselves and diagnose early. It's never too late, early detection can save lives and as October is a month of Breast Cancer awareness I conceptualized to portray a flatlay that embraces feminity.

Let's shower our love and support to all those fighting the battle. 🌺🌺🌺

Ingredients:

1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 tbsp pure ghee
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp rose water (you may use rooh afza or vimto)
A pinch of cardamom powder
A few drops of red gel food coloring

Instructions:

In a clean wide pan, add in your ghee and sprinkle the all purpose flour/ Maida over it and roast well until the raw smell disappears. And set aside to cool.
In a saucepan, add in your sugar and water, lemon juice and salt, allow to boil well.
Once your sugar syrup thickens, add in your color/flavorings (cardamom and rose water) and check the consistency by dropping a few drops of the syrup in a small bowl of water and if the syrup keeps its shape and comes on your finger, it's done.
Onto your clean counter top or silicone baking mat, grease it wel with pure ghee and once the bubbles have disappeared, slowly pour the molten sugar syrup over ghee and wait for a few seconds until the sides start to cool.
Now slowly push the sides using your hands, be careful, use a steel ladle to play with it, you will burn your hands.
Using your greased palms, pull the candy outward and attach inward.
Do this a few many times. Slowly make a circle out of the candy and sprinkle and spread the roasted APF/Maida that we have prepared earlier onto the candy.
Dip and coat the candy in the Maida and start shaping them into '8' and stretch slowly.
Repeat the step until you gets thin strands.
Finally dust off the excess Maida and the super pretty pink candy floss is ready! 😍

Qatayef

Happy 47th UAE National Day folks! I discovered the taste of Qatayef during one of these recent Ramadans. I could not BELIEVE how sublime this looked as well it tasted even better. I always love a platter that not only looks good but tastes better. So, this time around I thought I would make Qatayef, which isn't originally an Emirati dish but happens to be of middle eastern cuisine; that plays the game for me. It has more of an Egypt origin.

The main essence is the taste of the rose water that simply gives it a nice definition to taste. Qatayef is prepared in two ways, the Qatayef batter is used to make similarly shaped pancakes and filled with nuts or cream and fried. The other way is to fill the Qatayef with a cream mixture or whipped cream halfway through, this one isn't fried, it is served with some rose water scented sugar syrup which is the main element of the dish; this version is also called Qatayef Asafiri.

This is commonly found at iftar tables during Ramadan. You can also find these small pancakes in supermarkets, ready to fill and fry. But I prefer homemade from scratch rather than store bought. It is so much fun to make this. I always find it very interesting to make this one. Doesn't take much time and effort yet it is nectarous and fit for a king. We all love it here! Try it and let me know if your folks love it too in the comments below. Let's move on to the ingredients...

Qatayef

Pancake Batter:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp active dried yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cup milk

Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl combine warm water with yeast and sugar. (Do not kill the yeast by pouring in hot water, it just needs to be warm)
Set aside for 10 minutes. Then add milk.
In the meantime, combine the rest of the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
Add the dry ingredients into the milk mixture gradually and whisk creating the pancake batter without lumps.
Set aside the batter for 15-20 minutes to give the yeast time to wake up.
Preheat a non-greased non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.
Pour ⅛ of a cup of batter into a preheated skillet and fry the pancake on one side until the top surface is no longer shiny about 2-3 minutes.
The bubbles created during the frying process is a good indication that yeast in the batter is working properly.
Once the surface is dry and no longer shiny remove the pancake onto a clean kitchen towel and cover to prevent it from drying out. Continue with the rest of the batter. Adjust the heat as needed so the bottom part of the pancake doesn't burn.
Let the pancakes cool and keep them covered under a kitchen towel to keep them from drying.

Rose Scented Sugar Syrup :

Ingredients:

1 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon rose water

Instructions:

In a medium saucepan, combine together the sugar, water, and a teaspoon of rose water. Set on the stovetop over high heat. Try to avoid stirring it as it heats to prevent crystallization from happening, but if the sugar is not dissolving, then help it out with a few stirs. Once it comes to a boil, STOP stirring.
Bring to a rolling boil, then immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Set a timer! The syrup will thicken slightly and have a consistency similar to pancake syrup. If it simmers for longer it could thicken too much and become candy-like.
Remove off the heat and transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature before pouring over the Qatayef.

Ashta (Cream Filling):

Ingredients:

1.5 Tablespoon cornstarch.
1 cup milk.
a dash of rose water.
3-4 Tablespoon unsalted cream cheese.
1 tablespoon condensed milk or icing sugar

Instructions:

In a small saucepan, off the heat, whisk together the milk, sugar, and cornstarch until well combined and the cornstarch has dissolved completely without any visible lumps.
Set the saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a full boil, whisking constantly. Continue to boil for a few more seconds until the mixture thickens and large bubbles form around the surface.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk.
Set the cream-filling aside to cool slightly and mix in the rose water and cream cheese.

Final Assembling:

Scoop about a teaspoon of the Ashta filling in the middle of the Qatayef.
Pinch the edges together sealing them two-thirds of the way. Dip the open side into ground pistachios.
Arrange nicely in a round assemble in a serving dish and cover until time to serve.
Drizzle the sugar syrup over the Qatayef right before serving. Enjoy them melt in your mouth!