- Recipe from the feast cooked on Diwali, the Hindu festival of Lights
JHANGRI
Thick Sweet Lentil Spirals
They look like overblown jalebi and have often been mistaken for the yellow-orange spirals sticky with sugar syrup. But the differences are fundamental: the jhangri of South India, or imarti as theyare known in the North,are made of split back lentils, while jalebiare made of all-purpose flour. Jhangriare also noticeably plumper, and though juicier, are less sticky than jalebis. The extra loops and flourishes on a jhangri give it a more opulent appearance worthy of the Mughal emperor Jehangir— for whom, some legends say, it was named—and a Raj Bhog or royal menu of which it is always a part.
The family of deep-fried squishy, sugary spirals includes the Bengali chhanar jilipi, fat brown spirals made of fresh cottage cheese (chenna), and the sumptuous khoya jalebi made with evaporated milk solidsof Madhya Pradesh.
Ingredients
Batter
1 cup split husked black lentils, soaked for 1 hour
2 tablespoons rice flour
Few drops of edible orange color
Sugar Syrup
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon milk
Pinch of saffron threads
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
Ghee for deep-frying
Method
- For the batter, drain the soaked lentils and grind with a little water to a light and fluffy paste. Add the rice flour and food color and mix well.
- For the sugar syrup, combine the sugar and 1½ cups water in a heavy-bottomed pan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. When the syrup starts boiling, add the milk and skim off any froth that rises to the surface. Add the saffron and cook the syrup until it reaches a one-thread consistency (110-112˚C/230-234˚F). Remove from heat, stir in the ground cardamom and keep warm.
- Heat the ghee in a wok or deep pan over low heat. To make the jhangri, fit a piping bag with a fine round nozzle and fill it with the batter. Slowly pipe out the jhangriin concentric and looped circles into the hot ghee.
- Deep-fry on both sides until pale gold and crisp. Lift each jhangri out with a pair of tongs or a skewer, letting the ghee drip back into the wok. Drop the jhangri into the warm sugar syrup and leaveto soak for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove with a pair of tongs or a skewer, letting the excess syrup drip back into the pan, and place on a platter to dry. Repeat with the remaining jhangris.
- Serve the jhangri warm, or cool and store in an airtight tin for up to 3 days, or even longer in the refrigerator.
Makes about 36 jhangri
