Bengali Chanar Jalebi/ Paneer Jalebi

My last post was a recipe collection of Diwali sweets and snacks. Now I am ready with a sweet for Diwali- Chanar Jalebi/ Paneer Jalebi. It is a Bengali sweet made with freshly made paneer,  shaped like pretzel and deep fried and soaked in sugar syrup. I prepared this sweet for celebration of one year completion of the event- South vs North started by Divya Pramil. The event started a year ago and in the first challenge, I  challenged the north team with mysorepak while Shruthi challenged the south Team with Bhel puri chat.  From then every month one member from each team challenged the other team. So that we get to learn the cuisine that we are not familiar. This month we had a choice to cook from the previous challenges which we have missed. So I picked this sweet challenged by Chandrani since I am so fond of Bengali sweets. Initially, I was not sure how the jalebi would turn out since this is the first time I prepared fresh paneer at home. It was a smooth process and the jalebi came out well and everyone at home loved it. Until my daughter called it gulab jamun I didn't realise it tasted so close to gulab jamun.

Paneer Jalebi

Recipe Source: Cuisine delights

What are the ingredients needed?

Whole Milk, 4 cups

Lemon juice , from 1 large lemon (about 4-5 tablespoons)

Milk, as needed

All Purpose flour, 2 Tablespoon

Baking powder, a pinch

Cardamom powder, 1/2 teaspoon

Oil for deep frying

For the sugar syrup

Sugar, 1 cup

Water, 3/4 cup

Cardamom, 3-4 nos (crushed)

Saffron, few strands

Paneer Jalebi

How it is made?

1. Boil milk in a heavy bottomed pan. Then add lemon juice and let it curdle and boil till the whey water is clear and the paneer is separated.
2. Now strain the paneer using muslin cloth. Then wash it in running water to wash any traces of lemon and squeeze well to remove extra water. you can also hang the paneer in muslin cloth for about 30-45 minutes to drain the water.
3. Transfer the freshly made paneer into a bowl, add all purpose flour, baking powder, cardamom powder and knead well for about 7-8 minutes. If needed, sprinkle few drops of milk to get a smooth dough.
4. In the mean time, in a pan add sugar and water and let it come to boil and simmer it till the syrup thickens. Add crushed cardamom and saffron mix well and set it aside.
5. Now knead the dough again, divide the dough equally into small balls. Then roll them into thin tube and then twist the ends of the tube to form a shape similar to a pretzel. Or you can roll it similar to a coil.
6. Then heat the oil and deep fry the jalebis in batches. Remove from the oil and drain excess oil and then add the fried jalebi into the prepared syrup while it is still warm.
7. Let it soak for a while, about 2-3 hours. The jalebis will absorb syrup and will increase in size.
8. Then serve it warm or cold as desired.

Chanar Jalebi

Notes

• Temperature of oil while frying is very important. Deep fry the jalebis in a medium flame, so that the jalebis don't change color quickly.
• Add the fried jalebis to warm / medium hot sugar syrup.

Chanar Jalebi

This is  for the first anniversary celebration of South vs North Challenge started by Divya Pramil. And also linking it to Diwali Delicacies event by Priya Akka and Sangee also to Vardhini's Diwali Bash.