Bengali Chanar Jalebi/ Paneer Jalebi

Divya of You Too Can Cook has been organising a very interesting challenge every month which is called as the South Vs North Challenge. There are two groups among members. Every month, the member from North group will challenge the South Indian group with an authentic North Indian recipe whereas a member from the South Indian group will challenge the North Indian team with an authentic South Indian recipe. I belong to the southern group and for this month Chandrani Banerjee of Cuisine Delights challenged us to make Bengali delicacy Chanar Jalebi. It is an authentic sweet prepared on festive occasions. Paneer adds an interesting flavour to the jalebis. Rolling out the dough and shaping it was really challenging as it cracked a lot. But the final result was awesome. Crispy jalebis oozing with syrup was fabulous. Today is Datta Jayanthi and I made it for the occasion.


Recipe Source: Cuisine Delights
Ingredients:
Milk-2 lt
Lemon-2 / Citric Acid-1 tsp
Cardamom Powder-1/2 tsp
Baking Powder-1 tsp
Milk-2 tsp
Maida-2-3 tsp
Cardamom-2-3 pods crushed
Sugar-1 cup
Water-1/2 cup
Saffron strands-a few
Oil-to deep fry
Pistas-4-5 for garnish

Procedure:
1. Boil milk and add the lemon juice or citric acid.
2. When the milk starts curdling, switch off stove and let the whey water become clear.
3. Line a sieve with a muslin or cotton cloth.
4. Pour the curdled milk into it.
5. Place the sieve on a bowl and set it aside until all the water has been filtered out. It may take 30 minutes.
6. Remove the paneer from the cloth and transfer it to a plate.
7. Add milk, maida, baking powder and cardamom powder.
8. With the help of a spoon or the palm of your hand knead it to form a smooth dough.
9. In a pan add sugar, water, saffron and cardamom pods.
10. Bring it to boil. Let it boil on low flame until the syrup becomes sticky.
11. Remove from flame and set it aside.
12. In another pan heat oil for deep frying.
13. Pinch small balls out of the dough and roll the ball into a long thick rope.
14. Shape the rope into a pretzel or just a swirl.15. Deep fry the jalebis until nicely brown.
15. Remove from oil and add it to the warm syrup.
16. Make all the jalebis as per the instructions and let it soak in the syrup for 3-4 hours.
17. Garnish with sliced pistas and serve.



Prepare paneer.



Add all the other ingredients.



Make a smooth dough.



Roll a small ball of the dough into a rope.



Shape as shown.



Deep fry the jalebis.



Prepare the syrup.



Add the fried jalebis to warm syrup.



Serve garnished with pistas.

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