Jalebi, a popular sweet food, is in the news.
Let's give this food's brief history. In the Indian
subcontinent, West Asia, and some regions of Africa, it is a sweet snack. There
are numerous names for it, such as jerry, mushabak, zulbia, zelepi, jilebi,
jilipi, z’labia, or zalabia. Its name and description first appeared in several
Arab and Persian writings around the tenth century. The Indian ambassador,
Nagma Malik, suggested that jalebi may have originated in Turkey, traveled to
Tunisia, and finally made its way to India. Some say it was composed by a
musician in the time of Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, who stopped over in
Tunisia for a prolonged period on his way from Andalusia to Baghdad.
The South Asian variant is
prepared by deep-frying a batter consisting of maida flour or all-purpose
flour, into the shape of pretzels or circles, which are subsequently dipped in
sugar syrup. Jalebi is eaten with curd or rabri (in North India) along with
optional other flavors such as kewra (scented water).
Getting back to our current
situation. During the recent assembly election in Haryana, Mr. Rahul Gandhi,
the leader of the opposition in India, made it clear that the BJP government's
inaction is the reason why Gohana's jalebi is not becoming more popular
elsewhere. He intends to promote its mass production and open up the export
market once Congress comes into power. "If his (Mathu Ram’s) jalebi is
sold in other states and exported, then 20,000-50,000 more people could work in
his factory one day," Gandhi stated, while also criticising the impact of
demonetisation and GST on traders like Mathu Ram. Unfortunately, Congress lost
the Gohana seat and the Haryana assembly election, thus this sweet food becomes
sour for him.
I came across a book titled Jalebi
Management: All stakeholders can enjoy a bite by Shombit Sengupta, renowned
worldwide expert on corporate strategy, brand management, and disruptive
innovation. Sengupta provides insightful advice on efficient business
management in this book by drawing on his experiences working with firms in
various sectors and geographical areas. The word "Jalebi" alludes to
the complicated, spiral-shaped Indian dessert and represents the complexity and
interdependence of contemporary business settings.
Imarti
It's an Indian confection. The
recipe calls for deep-frying a batter consisting of black gram flour (urad dal
flour) into the shape of a circle flower, then soaking it in sugar syrup.
Alternative names include Amitti, Amriti, Emarti, Omritti, Jahangir and
Jhangiri/Jaangiri. Compared to Imarti, Jalebi is sweeter and thinner.
