an Indian sweet composed of whorls of batter, deep fried and soaked in syrup. The batter is usually based on plain flour, baking powder, and water, but may include other ingredients (e.g. yoghurt, besan flour, semolina, rice flour, colouring). After being allowed to rest for a while, so that it ferments slightly, it is forced through a nozzle to form loops in hot ghee. As soon as the shapes have set the jalebi are lifted out of the fat and dropped into hot syrup scented with saffron and rosewater (see roses). After a few seconds' soaking they are drained and served.
Achaya (1994), who gives a good account of regional variations in India, remarks:
According to Hobson-Jobson, the word jilebi is ‘apparently a corruption of the Arabic zalabiya or Persian zalibiya’. If so, both the word and the sweet, syrupy article of food that it connotes must have entered India quite early. A Jain work of about ad 1450 by Jinasura has a reference to a feast which includes the jalebi.
Similar confections are made all over the Middle East. In neighbouring Afghanistan jalebi are traditionally served with fish during the winter months, in an association which is so close that the jalebi appear in mounds on the fishmongers' stalls.
In Iran jalebi are known as zoolabiya (or zulubiya, there are many variant spellings) and are still often made for special occasions, given to poor people at Ramadan, etc. A pastry called zellabiya is made in the Lebanon but this also varies in shape as it is made into ‘fingers’ rather than whorls.
In the Middle East this item has interesting romantic and poetic associations. It is mentioned in stories of the Thousand and One Nights. A poem quoted by Forough Hekmat (1970) says:
Of sweet Zolo-biya chain I hung a necklace around her neck.From its delicious loops I made a ring on her ears.
Some believe that the somewhat similar—although one is made from batter, the other from dough—Arabic luqmat el qadi (meaning the judge's mouthful) may be the original version of this confection, dating back to early medieval times. In any case, the 10th-century Arabic cookbook gives several recipes for jalebi (zulubiya) but none for luqmat el qadi although there are many 13th-century recipes for this dish, including one in al-Baghdadi's cookery book. So, jalebi is the more ancient dish. The dough for luqmat el qadi is a plain yeast one, and the method much as described above; a syrup made with honey and including rosewater is preferred by many. The finished articles may be heaped in a pyramid as the syrup sticks them together. They are sold by street vendors during festivals. This name lives on in Greece and Cyprus as loukoumathes/loukoumades, which are so popular in Cyprus that in towns and large villages there are small shops which sell nothing else.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Achaya, K. T. (1994), Indian Food: A Historical Companion, Delhi: OUP.
Hekmat, Forough (1970), The Art of Persian Cooking, 2nd edn, Tehran: Ebn-e-Sina.
