jalebi / jalaibi / jilawii / jilebi / jeri / zoolbia / zlebia / zalabiyah

my housemate recently picked up a container of self-rising flour. i’ve never cooked with it before, and felt a bit clueless about it when i saw it. i still have a lot of questions – can it be used with yeast?

i knew this as an indian and pakistani snack… apparently, however, it’s also enjoyed in nepal, bangladesh, iran, egypt, lebanon, syria, the maldives, morocco, algeria, tunesia, and libya. wow…

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Self rising flour 1 1/2 cup
Water to mix (?)
bag with a corner cut
Oil for frying
Sugar 2 1/2 Cups
Water 1 1/2 Cups
Green Cardamom

Preparation
Make sugar syrup by boiling water, sugar and illaichis (note: cardamom) for few minutes. put aside and let it cool down to a warm temperature.
Mix flour with water. The consistency of the batter should resemble that of a cake batter or pancake batter.
Beat it with an electric beater for couple of minutes until all the lumps are well mixed. put the batter in a piping bag or a bottle with small nozzle.
Heat oil in a fry pan and squeeze the batter out in a circular motion, starting from inside out. Make 5-6 jalaibis at a time.
When light golden in colour, take them out and put it in the syrup. (Note that the syrup should not be hot, rather luke warm.)
Make another batch of jalaibis and when they are fried, take the syrup ones out in a strainer and add the newly fried ones in the syrup.

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thx pakirecipes

quick peanut butter fudge

another quick fudge with no candy thermometer necessary.

1¼ cups (10 ounces) unsalted butter
1¼ cups smooth peanut butter
Pinch of salt
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
4½ cups powdered sugar, sifted

1. Butter an 8-inch non-stick baking dish (or line with buttered parchment paper) and set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the butter and peanut butter until the mixtures comes to a boil. Remove from the heat.

3. Add the salt and vanilla extract, then stir in the powdered sugar until smooth and no lumps remain.

4. Pour the fudge mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the fudge and refrigerate until set, at least 1 hour. Cut into squares and serve. Fudge can be stored at cool room temperature in an airtight container.

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i’m not the biggest fan of that powdered sugar taste; i wonder if it’s really strong, or if the peanut butter takes over? i’m willing to try this after the success with the last fudge.

taken from this

quick-fudge

here’s the recipe i “followed”:

1 1/2 cups (360 ml) nuts (hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, and/or peanuts)
1-14 ounce can (414 ml) sweetened condensed milk
1 pound (402 grams) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons (30 grams) unsalted butter
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

here’s what i actually did.

put a stainless steel mixing bowl on top of a saucepan of hot simmering (not boiling) water
fill the bowl with all the chocolate i had (~8 ozs sweetened and unsweetened chocolate)
add a few pats of butter, half a can of sweetened condensed milk, a dash of heavy cream, and a healthy sprinkling of cayenne. mix constantly until melted. remove from heat.
dump water from saucepan and add remaining sweetened condensed milk. cook on a very low heat until brown in color, stirring constantly.
add a quarter cup or so smashed hazelnuts and a few capfuls of vanilla extract to chocolate mixture.
transfer to greased pan.
top with caramel mixture.

this is completely amazing, of course. almost too rich. and it couldn’t be easier; you don’t even really cook it!

pumpkin caramels

still never made candy before, but the house i’m moving in to next month has a candy thermometer! maybe my first time will be these pumpkin caramels.