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Cereals and bread from South Asia, Iran, Arab countries, Central Asia, Africa

Jalebi (fermented-batter version)जलेबी

A thick batter of refined wheat flour, water and a little curd is left to ferment for up to a day until it is sour and full of gas. It is piped in spirals into hot oil or ghee, fried crisp and soaked in sugar syrup.

Fully documentedCereals and bread3 min – 24 h

Recipe

Jalebi (fermented-batter version), a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Gpkp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceNo fixed recipe; the amounts are the ranges a Mysore study tested.
Refined wheat flour (maida)Finely milled, under 130 µm in the study batters[chakkaravarthi2013]
WaterBatter moisture 50–65 %The range tested; more water makes the batter pour more easily[chakkaravarthi2013]
Curd (yoghurt)0–10 %The range tested; curd speeds souring[chakkaravarthi2013]
Sugar syrupFor soaking the fried spirals[chakkaravarthi2014]
Oil or gheeFor frying; the Mysore study fried in hot oil[chakkaravarthi2013][wp-jalebi]
Startercurd (0–10 % in the studied batters); some west Asian jalebi are made from a yeasted dough

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 min – 24 h

Start
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What changes: Flour, water and a little curd are mixed into a thick batter

Step 1 of 4
Mix flour, water and curd into a thick batter
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts

Output: batter.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
thick, smooth paste
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

A thick batter of refined wheat flour, water and a little curd is left to ferment for up to a day until it is sour and full of gas. It is piped in spirals into hot oil or ghee, fried crisp and soaked in sugar syrup. Made in 4 steps over 3 min – 24 h. The longest step, ferment, takes 0 min – 24 h (Chakkaravarthi A 2013). Lapidilactobacillus dextrinicus (the most abundant species) and other lactic acid bacteria, including Pediococcus stilesii and Enterococcus hirae and Saccharomyces bayanus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step0 min – 24 hReported[chakkaravarthi2013]Ferment
Temperature160 °CReported[chakkaravarthi2014]Pipe spirals into hot oil and fry
AciditypH 3.5–5.3Measured[chakkaravarthi2013]Ferment

What makes this one different

Jalebi is a fried sweet made from a batter that is soured for up to a day first, which gives it a slight tang. The fried strands are porous and crisp, so they soak up the syrup.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Khoya (mawa) jalebiMade from khoya or mawa; reported to have been invented by Harprasad Badkul in Jabalpur in 1889.
  • West Asian and North African versionsIn some west Asian cuisines jalebi may be a yeast dough, fried and dipped in a syrup of honey and rose water; North African zalabia uses a different batter with honey and rose water.

Safety

In the Mysore study the batter's pH ranged from 3.53 to 5.29, falling with more curd and longer fermentation (Chakkaravarthi 2013). The spirals were fried at 150–180 °C in the frying trials (Chakkaravarthi 2014).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The earliest recipe is in Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's 10th-century Kitab al-Tabikh. Indian sources include the Priyamkara-nrpa-katha of about 1450 and the Gunyagunabodhini, before 1600.

  1. [chakkaravarthi2013] Chakkaravarthi A., Kumar H.N., Bhattacharya S. 2013, Jilebi 2, Flowability, pourability and pH of batter as affected by fermentation, J Food Sci Technol 50:293–300, doi:10.1007/s13197-011-0326-zpaper
  2. [chakkaravarthi2014] Chakkaravarthi A., Nagaprabha P., Kumar H.N., Latha R.B., Bhattacharya S. 2014, Jilebi 3, Effect of frying conditions on physical characteristics, J Food Sci Technol 51:865–874, doi:10.1007/s13197-011-0595-6paper
  3. [shangpliang2023] Shangpliang H.N.J., Tamang J.P. 2023, Metagenomics and metagenome-assembled genomes mining of health benefits in jalebi batter, Food Res Int 172:113130, doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2023.113130paper
  4. [fao1999] FAO 1999, Fermented cereals, a global perspective (FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138), chapter 3, Asia-Pacificgov
  5. [tamang2016] Tamang, Watanabe, Holzapfel, "Review: Diversity of Microorganisms in Global Fermented Foods and Beverages", Front. Microbiol. 7:377, 2016paper
  6. [wp-jalebi] Wikipedia, Jalebi (history and variants only; cites Nasrallah 2007)wiki