Indian cooking
Jalebi (Sweet Pretzels)

Jalebi

Sweet Pretzels
VegetarianOrigin Punjab/Delhi/AwadhPrep 20 minutes, plus fermenting timeCook 30 minutesMakes 20–25

Jalebi are crisp, coiled fried batter sweets soaked in sugar syrup. They taste sweet and syrupy, with a light tang from lime and a crunchy edge.

Ingredients

01
47 g6 tablespoons
flour
02
12 g2 tablespoons
flour
03
31 g2 tablespoons
dairy
04
Vegetable oil · Telplus extra for deep-frying
14 g1 tablespoon
oil/fat
06
2.5 g½ teaspoon
souring agent

Method

  1. Mix 46.8 g plain flour, 12 g gram flour, 30.6 g yogurt, 13.5 g vegetable oil and enough water to form a thick batter. Cover and leave overnight to ferment.
  2. Put 200 g granulated sugar and water in a heavy pan. Warm gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.
  3. Raise the heat and boil, skimming off the foam, until a drop of syrup stretches into a single thread.
  4. Stir 2.5 g lime juice into the syrup. Keep it warm over a low heat while frying.
  5. Beat the fermented batter, then put it into a piping bag or a plastic bag with a small hole cut in one corner.
  6. Heat extra vegetable oil for deep-frying to 180°C/350°F.
  7. Pipe small linked coils about 8 cm/3 inches across into the hot oil, working in batches if needed.
  8. Fry for 2–3 minutes, turning with a metal skewer, until both sides are golden and crisp.
  9. Lift out the jalebi with tongs and drain on kitchen paper.
  10. Put the jalebi into the warm syrup and soak for about 5 minutes. Remove and serve hot, separated into individual coils.

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Plain flour
  • Whole wheat flour

    Use the same weight, add 10–15% more water and rest the dough for 20 minutes; the result is heavier and nuttier.

  • Rice flour

    Use the same weight for crisp coatings; for doughs use no more than half rice flour with wheat flour, or it will be crumbly.

  • Cornflour

    For thickening use half the weight, mixed with cold water; it is not suitable for bread or chapati dough.

Gram flour
  • Chickpea flour

    Use the same weight. Gram flour is chickpea flour, so this is an exact swap with the same nutty flavour and binding.

  • Plain flour

    Use about 75–80% of the weight, e.g. 80 g for 100 g gram flour, and add a pinch of turmeric for colour. Less nutty and less crisp; good only for thickening or simple batters.

  • Rice flour

    Use the same weight for crispness, but it does not bind like gram flour; mix with a little plain flour if making pakora batter.

Yogurt
  • Plain yogurt

    Use 100% of the weight. Whisk thoroughly until smooth before stirring into warm gravies to prevent curdling.

  • Single cream

    Use 90% of the weight combined with 10% lemon juice to replicate the lactic tang and rich body in marinades and curries.

Vegetable oil
  • Peanut oil

    Use 1:1 by weight. Handles high-heat frying identically and introduces a very subtle, pleasant nuttiness.

  • Ghee

    Use 1:1 by weight. Yields a much richer, authentic aroma and a glossy, heavier mouthfeel.

  • Mustard oil

    Use 1:1 by weight. Heat until smoking, then cool slightly before cooking to temper its intensely pungent, sharp mustard kick.

Granulated sugar
  • Jaggery

    Use equal weight; grate or shave finely so it dissolves rapidly, giving a warm, caramel-like sweetness and slightly darker sauce.

Lime juice
  • Lemon juice

    Use equal volume or weight; slightly sweeter and less pungent, but otherwise an imperceptible swap.

  • Dried mango powder

    Use 25% of the weight; imparts dry, fruity sourness, best stirred in right at the end of cooking.

  • Tamarind extract

    Use 50% of the weight; delivers pleasant fruity tang but turns pale sauces considerably darker.

Similar dishes

Warqi Paratha
Layered Paratha
Warqi Paratha tastes buttery, salty, and flaky, not sweet, syrupy, or tangy like this dish.
  • Same: Warqi Paratha and this dish both use plain flour as the main base and fat to shape their texture.
  • Different: Warqi Paratha has salt and ghee with extra plain flour for spiral layering, while this dish has gram flour, yogurt, vegetable oil, sugar, and lime juice and is fried then soaked in syrup.
Ulte Tawe ka Paratha
Paratha Cooked on the Griddle
Ulte Tawe ka Paratha is tender, flaky, and delicately sweet with cashew and khus aroma, whereas this dish is crisp, syrupy, and lightly tangy from lime.
  • Same: Ulte Tawe ka Paratha shares plain flour and granulated sugar with this dish, and both are sweet fried wheat-based items cooked with fat.
  • Different: Ulte Tawe ka Paratha adds cashew paste, milk, khus essence, baking powder, salt, and ghee, while it lacks this dish's gram flour, yogurt, lime juice, vegetable oil, and sugar-syrup soak; it is a layered flatbread cooked on an inverted griddle rather than a coiled batter fried and soaked.
Moticoor Laddu
Sweet Globes
It tastes soft, syrupy and fragrant from saffron, cardamom and rosewater, without this dish's crisp edge and lime tang.
  • Same: Moticoor Laddu shares gram flour, granulated sugar, lime juice and a sugar-syrup finish with this dish.
  • Different: It uses saffron, rosewater, ground green cardamom, ghee, melon seeds and edible silver leaf, and is made as gram-flour boondi soaked in syrup rather than a coiled plain-flour-and-yogurt batter fried in vegetable oil.
Bhatura
Deep-fried Bread
Bhatura tastes crisp outside and soft and slightly tangy inside, not sweet and syrup-soaked like this dish, and it lacks this dish's lime tang.
  • Same: Bhatura shares with this dish a deep-fried cooking style and a dough or batter using plain flour, yogurt, sugar, and vegetable oil.
  • Different: Bhatura adds semolina, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and is a leavened bread, while this dish uses gram flour and lime juice and is a batter coil soaked in sugar syrup.