Jalebiiii

Yes I made these. And they tasted as good as they look, at least as per me who was having them after more than a year. Though I have a sweet tooth for all “mithai” but Jalebi is my all time favorite. My sweet memories of Jalebi’s date back to my mom’s home where we all used to go in the summer vacations. My granny would get up early and walk down to the market to get these freshly made in front of her eyes. The shopkeeper would pack these in a wooden basket and by the time we kids got up its smell was all around the kitchen. All of us would sit around her, each with a bowl full of hot saffron milk and then she would dip Jalebi’s in our bowls. She is gone now and that special treatment too but that taste is still missed by all of us.

For a long time my favorite advertisement on TV used to be - the Jalebi ad of “Dhara Oil” – any bells ringing!! I used to love the expression on that kids face when he would say Jalebiiiiiii….. if you still don’t remember watch it again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk8Z0WbSWV0&feature=related Courtesy - you tube.

Back at my home, I share this sweet tooth characteristic with my Dad so always had a good company to have the yummy Jalebi’s. Rest all in the family would just taste them and not relish as we both did. My frequency of eating Jalebi’s increased when I went to hostel. Not that these were tastier or better made there but I missed them more in the hostel. So each time I was back, Dad would bring these without me even asking for it. At times I would accompany him to the shop as I enjoy watching the way they are made. Its the first sweet made in the shops and crazy people like me do get up early even on weekends to savor them hot & crispy. In my hometown it is considered as a rich breakfast, served to guests and in family get togethers, especially in the chilling winters. So each time an out of town guest or a distant relative came it would be a treat for me too... :)

My Jalebi attraction continued when I started working in Pune. There was a shop near my flat, where nice Jalebi’s were made. My friends would take the nearby natural’s ice-cream and I would grab the Jalebi’s always.

When I first came to US, a friend asked my favorite sweet – pop came the answer “Jalebi” but this joy was gone the moment I tasted it. They were the worst I had ever had! and I never dared to try them again fearing I might forget the original mouth watering taste. But missed them each time I saw these in the shops. All my Jalebi memories were refreshed a few days back after watching Delhi-6. Now I wanted to have these more but still won’t be able to eat the crap stuff available in the Indian Sweet Stores here. So finally, I decided to try it myself. Got up lazily on a saturday to make breakfast(bread+omlette) but then the Jalebi idea came again, with all the zeal to make an effort this time and here I began. The biggest issue was I don’t have a Jalebi maker to get that spiral shape. First option came to my mind was to use a cloth with a hole, I have seen shopkeepers doing that in India - but this didn’t work well for me. Next option – Make a cone of plastic sheet, difficult but I remembered the output and gave it a try :). And it worked fine or should say I made it work fine. The result is what you see in the snap above. So this weekend I did have a rich breakfast mmmmm…….