Description
Jalebi, also known as Zulbia and Zalabia, is a sweet and popular food found all over South Asia and the Middle East. It is extremely common in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It is made from all-purpose or plain flour batter deep-fried in pretzel or circular shapes then soaked in sugar syrup. They are particularly popular in the Indian subcontinent and Iran.
This dessert can be served warm but preferred cold. They have a somewhat crunchy texture with a crystallized sugary exterior coating. Citric acid or lime juice is sometimes added to the syrup, as well as rose water.
In Christian communities in West Asia, it is served on the Feast of the Theophany (Epiphany), often with dry sugar and cinnamon.
A 10th century cookbook gives several recipes for Zulubiya. There are several 13th century recipes of the sweet, the most accepted being mentioned in a cookbook by Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi. It was also mentioned in a tenth century Arabic cookbook by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, that was later translated by Nawal Nasrallah.
Ernest A Hamwi, a Syrian immigrant to the United States, is believed to have used the Persian version Zalabia as an early ice cream cone.
In Iran it is known as Zoolbia, although when translated into English, the spelling has alternatives such as Zolbiya, Zulbia, Zulubia, Zolbia. In addition to being sweetened with honey and sugar, Zoolbia in Iran is also flavoured with saffron or rose water and often served with Persian-style black tea alongside Bamiyeh.
