JALEBI
Jhepli, jilapi, jilapir Pak, jilafi, julbiya,
jeri, murabbak, kudlinka ,jalbalika, chasvalika, jaleba, jhalebiya, jaleba,
jilbi, jalebi and jilebi these all are the names of One of the most popular
sweet of India"Jilebi". It changes its name as per the region But the
truth is it's actual origin is not India , it's birth history is full of
complexity so much twisted just like electric connection of Delhi .
In third century Queen of Donobiya ji
pamiran had set twin cities named as "Halabiya" and
"Jhalabiya " ,and as per history of 'Jilebi' it has a very close
relation with the name of this two twin cities a well-known chef of desert was
fond of making innovation in sweet dish or deserts, once he added whipped eggs
in fermented all purpose flour (maida) and fried it in hot clarified
butter in a nice netted round ball shapes and topped it with honey and
garnished with dry fruits this sweet dish was loved by everyone and he named it
as 'Jhalabiya' with his own city name Jhalabiya. here was the invention
started of Jilebi.
In 13th century the recipe book written by
Nalaraj Has the evidence of the recipe of Jilebi, same evidence of Jilebi
recipe is found in Mohammed Hasan's an Irani chefs recipe book "Pakkhana".
In 15th century a book written by Jinasur a Jain writer has a story of rich man's family function he
has given a lavish treat in which he has specifically described jilebi but it
has been named as "Kudalinka".
After
some years Jilebi has been found in Sanskrit as 'sudha kudlinka'. Sudharas one of the sweet dish which has been
linked with this recipe is made with simple sugar syrup which is mixed with
lemon juice. In Ramjaan Sudha Ras was used to be distributed in poor
people.
History shows that Persian merchants while
trading with India brought 'Jilebi' in India same as they brought
Gulab jamun,they invaded in India through sea routes and settled on the ports
of Mumbai and Gujarat. This was the first step of Jilebi in India and it became
very popular in Maharashtra and Gujarat .In Gujarat Jilebi was complimented
with fafada and in Maharashtra a combination of Jilebi, Matta and Masalebhat
was famous.Then Jilebi travelled to south of India and it got a new name as
'Imarti' ,which is made with dehusked blackgram pulses. But as per history
Mughals brought Imarti in India.
Jilebi is famous in North ,south, East and
west ,it changed its shape and colour and taste as per eating habits of the
particular region. in Delhi Jilebi is made in a thick and big spiral shape ,
and in Maharashtra it is made in a delicate spiral shape in a medium size
and orange in colour outer covering is crispy and soft juicy inside it is
fully filled with sugar syrup added with cardamom and lemon juice it's so
tempting that we couldn't resist eating second one as soon as we finish
first.In some regions it's colour changes from orange to yellow or saffron, as
they added saffron in sugar syrup the colour and taste both changes.
Decade
passed and the lifestyle of people have changed now they have started consuming
less sugar , buffet system have been started and so our
"Jilebi" has also changed its shape from bigger to smaller in
size which is called as "Disco jilebi " and in Pune it is famous as
"Dollar Jilebi".
Here in Delhi they started a new trend by
serving rabdi (condensed milk or thickened milk) with Jilebi and in some places
Jilebi has been served with creamycurd. In traditional way of making Jilebi
fermented all purpose flour is used, but many of the new chefs started innovations
and some of them tried making Jilebi with khoya(thickened milk),potato and some
made it with cooked rice which is called as 'Bhatkamjilebi'.In eastside of
Maharashtra this Bhatkam Jilebi is very popular. Special fasting Jilebi has
also been Invented which is made with Ararot powder. Jilebi is not only
popular in India it is world famous now Syria, Turkistan, Greece, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia,
syprus, Morocco, yaman , Pakistan , Bangladesh are all in love with Jilebi.
In
my childhood we use to visit our grandparents in Navratri, there was a
tradition in which toddler girls (kumarika) were specially invited for lunch
and jilebi and creamycurd was served as special sweet dish .Few years back in
Vishnuji ki rasoi we tried to make Jilebi in jaggery syrup and we used wheat
flour in the place of all purpose flour and this invention was happily accepted
and loved by our customers. This invention gave us a thought procedure that
sugar was actually invented after jaggery so in early days Jilebi must have
been prepared using jaggery syrup or honey or sugarcane juice.
There is a small tip for our readers those
who love to make Jilebi in clarified butter please note that take small amount
of clarified butter in flat pan and fry Jilebi into small batches change the
clarified butter after some batch are fried, because after some batch clarified
butter gets burnt and it adds it's burnt flavour to Jilebi. I love Jilebi which
is made in Nasik by "Dudha Halwai" this Jilebi is fried in vanaspati
butter.
This
is the journey of Jilebi and it is going to travel far more years to come and
going to bring more and more innovative ideas.
