Diwali Special: Jangiri

One of my other favorite Diwali sweets! But, making this is an art which I still have not mastered. I did this once long back and that turned out to be crisp jalebis made with urad daal!

This time around – it tastes perfect – but looks kind of ok. A few jangiris came out good – some just opened up while frying! But the consistency of the batter was perfect and it tastes really good. I know I shouldn’t be praising my own dish - but hey someone’s got to speak the truth!

The softness of the Urad daal batter matters a lot to the texture of jangiris. So, I took the longer route and used my grinder to grind the batter.

Here’s the ingredient list –

For Jangiris –

Urad daal – 2 cups

Rice flour – 2 tbsp

Orange food color – a few drops

Salt – a pinch

For Sugar Syrup:

Sugar – 3 cups

Water – 1 ½ cups

Half a lime to squeeze in the sugar syrup to prevent crystallization

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Orange food color – a few drops

To begin with, soak 2 cups of urad gota in hot water after washing well. Soak for about 1 hr. 

Grind the soaked daal in a grinder or blender. Add a pinch of salt while grinding. Do not add a lot of water for grinding. Add water little by little as needed. The batter should be frothy and light and super soft. It might take about 45 mins to get that consistency but just think of the jangiris – don’t you want them perfect! So, wait there for 45 mins!

Remove the batter from the grinder and move all to a mixing bowl. Now, add a few drops of Orange or Kesar color to this batter. I used the regular Wilton icing food color drops. Mix well so that the batter is completely orange and no white spots.

Now, add about 2 tbsp of rice flour and mix well. This will give a nice crispiness outside to the jangiris. The other method is to soak rice along with the urad daal before grinding – but I kind of prefer this.

For the Sugar syrup -

Add the 3 cups of sugar and 1 ½ cups of water. Mix well and bring to a boil. The sugar syrup should be of almost 1 string consistency – switch off when  you think it will reach 1 string consistency in 2 – 3mins. Add the juice of half a lime to prevent crystallization of the sugar syrup. Add a couple of drops of the orange color and mix well. Add cardamom powder and mix well.

When the sugar syrup is almost going to be done, start frying the jangiris. Here is where your artistic talents come to life. Or rather not if you are like me! Hahah

I started off using a piping bag as you can see in the picture, I did about 2 jangiris – but for some reason, the batter would not come out and also the hole was very small and hence it looked more like a jalebi. So, I switched to a good old Ziploc bag and cut a nice ½ inch at the bottom to make a bigger hole. And the thickness of the jangiris was perfect!

While piping the jangiris, make sure the oil is at medium and not too hot. As you pipe, the jangiris should remain in one place until you stop piping. First put two big O’s on top of each other and then pipe little o’s all around the big O’s. That’s it.

Once the jangiris are fried, move them directly from the oil to the sugar syrup. Leave it there until the next batch is almost ready. Then, remove them one by one with a skewer and place it on a sheet or a plate.

You will notice that the sugar syrup begins to thicken a lot as it cools down – just switch back the flame on for a minute – that will melt it to needed consistency. Or you could add a few drops of water.

The Jangiris are done! Happy and Sweet Diwali!!

 

Enjoy! Peace Out!

I'm sending this as an entry to Priya's Feast Diwali 2009 event. Thanks Priya for hosting.

I'm also sending this across to Sireesha's Sweet Series Event. Thanks Sireesha for hosting!

Also sending this across to Purva's Daawat Diwali Dhamaka Event. Thanks Purva for hosting.