Imarti

The batter is black gram with saffron in it, piped as a flower with a ring in the middle.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 250 g black gram, urad dal, soaked 4 hours
• a generous pinch of saffron, for the batter
• 400 g sugar
• 200 ml water, for the syrup
• 4 cloves
• 4 cardamom pods, bruised
• 1 teaspoon kewra water
• a pinch of edible camphor
• ghee for deep frying

Method

1. THE BATTER IS BLACK GRAM WITH SAFFRON IN IT, PIPED AS A FLOWER WITH A RING IN THE MIDDLE. Its article is specific about all three. The batter is made from varieties of black gram flour -- urad dal in the north, jangiri parappu further south; SAFFRON IS ADDED TO THE BATTER to give imartis their bright orange colour, which is colour from the inside out rather than from the syrup; and the batter is poured into geometric patterns with OFTEN A SMALL RING IN THE MIDDLE. That ring is not decoration. It is what holds a flower of loops together while it fries.
2. THE GRAM IS SOAKED AND GROUND WET, NOT USED AS FLOUR. Its article says soaked in water for a few hours and then STONE-GROUND to a fine batter. Four hours, then ground thick with as little water as it will take.
3. IT IS WHIPPED UNTIL IT FLOATS. Beaten hard for several minutes until a dropped spot of it sits on the surface of a glass of water. That is the test, and until it passes the imartis will be dense.
4. THE SYRUP IS MADE BEFORE THE FRYING STARTS AND ITS ARTICLE LISTS WHAT GOES IN IT. Edible camphor, cloves, cardamom, kewra and saffron. A pinch of camphor, no more -- the same warning as the kakara pitha page here.
5. IT IS PIPED INTO GHEE. Its article says ghee, though other oils are sometimes used, and ghee is what the flavour is built on.
6. THE SHAPE IS A RING WITH LOOPS AROUND IT. Pipe a small circle first, then six or seven loops round the outside of it, each touching the ring. Work quickly, in the fat, and they weld together as they set.
7. THEY SOAK UNTIL THEY SWELL. Its article says dipped until they EXPAND IN SIZE, having taken up a great deal of syrup. Several minutes, not seconds.
8. THEN THEY ARE DRAINED, AND THAT IS WHY THEY ARE DRIER. Its article notes that they are drained, and so tend to be drier than jalebis. Lift them out onto a rack rather than leaving them in the syrup.
9. THEY ARE SERVED HOT, COOL OR COLD, AND SOMETIMES WITH CURD. Its article gives all three temperatures and dahi as a dip.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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