Ma Niche : Apple Jalebi with Finger Millet

21.2.13

Apple Jalebi with Finger Millet

So for breakfast today we had Apple Jalebi with Yogurt. Weird ?? Not really. the combo is actually very tasty. I had jalebi or fritters with yogurt or Dahi Jalebi as they called it for the first time in Allahabad.. they served it for breakfast in our hostel mess. at first I was a little skeptical about how that would taste... but once i had it... i kept going back to the mess very Sunday for the rest of that month. i say, 'that month' because, well, our mess menu changed every month according to the likings of the rotating mess managers... so that was there on the menu for that month and again came back when we became the mess managers :)

needless to say, that for memories sake, to this day, Nishi and I relish Dahi Jabi. however this morning i decided to punch in a little more health to the combo. so i substituted some of the flour with finger millet and instead of making mere jalebis i adapted the recipe of apple jalebi from Manjula's Kitchen. and just to make life a little simple, instead of making the usual sugar syrup in which the fritters are dipped I coated them with a sugar-cinnamon glaze before serving with beaten yogurt... and the result was YUMMMM.... a good beginning to a working day.

ingredients

for the fritters

1 1/2 apples peeled and sliced them in thin rings
1/8 cup finger millet/ragi
1/3 cup minus 1/8 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon oil
pinch of baking soda

Oil to fry

for the glaze

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons apple juice

1 tablespoon milk

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

what i did.

I began by dissolving the yeast and sugar in 1/8 cup of warm water and allowing it sit until the mixture became foamy. meanwhile i mixed the flours, sifted them and added oil into the mixture. once the yeast solution was ready, i added that to the flour mixture and adding water a little at a time formed a pancake like batter with it. I then set the batter aside and let it rest in a warm place till it rose about 7-10 %. it took about an hour for the batter to ferment and become slightly lacy.

while the batter fermented, i prepared the glaze by simply mixing the listed ingredients.

once the batter was ready, I poured oil in a medium sized saucepan to reach a depth of 1 inch and heated it over medium heat. To check if the oil was ready, I put one drop of the batter in the oil. Once the batter came up without changing color right away I knew that I could start frying my fritters.

For the Fritters, I coated the apple rings with the prepared batter in batches and dropped them into the oil and fried them until the batter was golden brown. Then transferred them to a paper towel to drain of the extra oil. Finally i dipped them into the glaze, coating both sides and let the glaze settle on the fritters before serving them with beaten yogurt.