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Jalebi

Jalebi (Hindi: जलेबी, Bengali: জিলাপি, romanizedJilapi/Zilafi, Odia: ଝିଲାପି, Urdu: جلیبی, Nepali: जेरी, Assamese: জেলেপী, Sinhala: පැණි වළලු,) is a popular sweet snack in the Indian subcontinent, West Asia and some parts of Africa. It goes by many names, including jilapi, zelepi, jilebi, jilipi, zulbia, zoolbia, jerry, mushabak, z'labia, or zalabia.

The south Asian variety is made by deep-frying maida flour (plain flour or all-purpose flour) batter in pretzel or circular shapes, which are then soaked in sugar syrup. Jalebi is eaten with curd or rabri (in North India) along with optional other flavors such as kewra (Pandanus flower essence).

In some west Asian cuisines, jalebi may consist of a yeast dough fried and then dipped in a syrup of honey and rose water.[citation needed] The North African dish of Zalabia uses a different batter and a syrup of honey (Arabic: ʻasal) and rose water.

The earliest known recipe of this food comes from the 10th century in the Arabic cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh (English: The Book of Dishes) by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq. In the 13th century Persia, a cookbook by Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi mentioned a similar dish.

According to the Hobson-Jobson (1903) historical dictionary, the word jalebi is derived from the Arabic word zulabiya, or the Persian zolbiya.

Priyamkara-nrpa-katha, a work by the Jain author Jinasura, composed around 1450 CE, mentions jalebi in the context of a dinner held by a rich merchant. Gunyagunabodhini, another Sanskrit work dating before 1600 CE, lists the ingredients and recipe of the dish; these are identical to the ones used to prepare the modern jalebi. According to the Indian ambassador Nagma Malik, jalebi might have started life in Turkey and then arrived in Tunisia long ago before making its way to India. Others claim that it was created by a musician during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, Abdourrahman Ibnou Nafaâ Ziriab, who made a prolonged stop over in Tunisia while traveling from Baghdad to Andalusia.

It has been suggested that the American funnel cake is derived from the Arab and Persian cuisine, brought by German emigrants and called Drechterkuche.

In Afghanistan, Jalebi is a popular dessert. There is some slight differences between Afghan Jalebi and other variants. The Afghan Jalebi does not use any food coloring in contrast to the Indian and Pakistani variants and so is usually yellow and not orange in color. The Afghan Jalebi is also thinner. It is a popular dessert that is commonly consumed in households and in public events such as weddings or festivals. Jalebi is oftentimes served with green tea. There is also a popular song from Bollywood film Phantom named Afghan Jalebi.

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sweet popular in countries of South Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and East Africa
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