White lentils called urad dal in Hindi and uluthamparuppu in Tamil play a huge role in South Indian cooking . They are used to make sweets too.
One such sweet is the Jangiri. It looks like a thick string woven into a flowery pattern and typically made with a touch of orange food color .
Soaked lentils are ground into a fine batter. This is placed in some equipment like an icing funnel to pipe the semisolid batter into flowery shapes. This is done directly into hot oil on the stove. The jangiris are deep fried at a medium heat and then dunked into sugar syrup flavoured with rose.
Wedding feasts are a good time to enjoy jangiris because they would always be part of the menu and are sometimes distributed to the guests too.
Food from other lands:
Jalapeno was a new term I learnt in my twenties when I visited the US. It took me a while to learn the pronounciation. For spice loving Indians, chillies are an integral part of our daily diet. We use green chillies or dried red ones too.
Food for thought:
No quotes. Just two words that came to my mind .
Just chill !
Jangiri sounds great but not very fond of Jalapeno. Just Chill is my fav advice. :P
ReplyDeleteMany times I am confused between Jangiri and jilebi.
ReplyDeleteI do like jalapenos! The jangiris sounds interesting. My mom used to make a cookie called timbale iron cookies that were made with a very thin batter. The timbale iron (shaped like a flower or star) was dipped into the batter, then set into hot oil. The cookie puffed up and turned golden brown. then were taken off the timbale iron to cool on a rack, then dusted with powdered sugar.
ReplyDeleteYes we do make those... its called Achu murukku :)
DeleteNot a fan of sweets much, so needless to say jangiri hasn't been something I pick up at a spread. Though my Dad absolutely loves it. I have a fun incident around Jalapenos. Or rather Habanaro peppers that are hotter than jalapenos. There was this restaurant we went to, where there was this dish called Habanaro hell peppers which said it's the hottest ever and the customer should order with caution. A friend and I thought nothing can be spicier than Indian food and hence ordered. The dish actually came with some cream cheese on the side, and a note that said: Do not complain to your server that it is too spicy, he will only laugh at you. We were still undaunted and bit into it. The cream cheese was gone in a second, and we ended up ordering ice cream!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love Nike's inspirational quote for J: JUST DO IT!
Here's my post for J:
Jurassic Park