JALEBI

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.