The winner! ..finally!

Hello my lovely readers! Its so good to be back again and talking...umm..writing to you all! Its been more than a month since I last posted anything on this blog - well it was initially a bit of work pressure, and then a last minute, and soo well deserved vacation! We had a wonderful little break in Spain - Barcelona, where the sun was still shining. Yes, we went chasing summer for a few more days! It was amazing.

Where all did you go this year for your holiday? Let me know!

Anyways, so the long overdue winner of the CSN giveaway is now decided - thanks to random.org. I had initially opened the contest till 4-Sep, but since I couldn't pick the winner until then, I opened the contest for a bit longer, and all the comments posted have been considered. Somehow the response was a bit lukewarm this time around. Summer breaks maybe? Or back-to-school blues?

Ok, so here is the winner ..finally..(guilty, red faced)

**drumroll**

Congratulations Swapna - you'll be hearing from me soon.

So normal *blogging* service resumes now. Thank you all for participating and CSN stores for giving me this opportunity.

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Jalebi and a giveaway

For those who missed out on my last giveaway, here is a chance to win a gift voucher again. CSN stores have offered another chance to our readers to win a £60 gift voucher that can be used on one of their 6 UK websites. They have a huge collection of items on their stores ranging from cookware to lights to furniture. And they even have their summer sale going on, so you can grab a lot more for the money!

The giveaway ends 4-Sep, and the rules are the same as before

• Visit CSN stores, and comment here what would you like to win? You don't have to necessarily buy the item in case you are the winner..just ..you know ..no harm dreaming ..

• Follow Snacksgiving publicly - Just click on the "Follow" button on the right pane of this blog and leave a comment to this post

To have extra entries

• Tweet about this giveaway. Just copy and paste this on twitter.RT @Snacksgiving : Win a gift card from CSN stores http://bit.ly/a8oor2 #giveaway #contest

• "Like" Snacksgiving on Facebook. And then comment here again.

Now on to the recipe.

Question: What does a jalebi mean to you?

1. Heaven on a plate..I could eat a kilo without a blink!
2. meh..yet another syrupy sweet from India
3. never heard it, never tried it..

My vote would always go to "Heaven on a plate". And I did eat a kilo. Ok not exactly a kilo, but very close - about 25 pieces of jalebi :-) And I could have eaten more. But there weren't any left. They aren't healthy stuff, but when you have been craving for something for a few days, then healthy , nutritous and all their synonyms just go out-the window.

I had been wanting to eat these, but hadn't found the perfect jalebi in any of the restaurants I had eaten in here in Zurich. This is not something that I have made in the past, so had to search a bit for the perfect recipe. The traditional method involves fermentation for 24 hours (!), but I really didn't have the patience or a long weekend to wait that long. So what did I do? Hmm..I feel guilty saying this on a food blog - but I opened up a packet of "Jalebi mix" :-)

All I had to do then was to add water to make the batter, fry it, and dip it in sugar syrup. But you see, I can't just leave that as the recipe here :-)

So I'll write the recipe that I'll use the next time - I hope that isn't any time soon though. This is from the wonderful Manjula aunty from Manjula's kitchen. Umm..I want to eat them again right now!

INGREDIENTS:

Batter:

• 1/2 cup All Purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon besan (gram flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• About 1/3 cup of lukewarm water (as needed)

Syrup:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• Pinch of cardamom powder
• Few strands of saffron
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Also needed:

• Oil to fry

INSTRUCTIONS:

Batter:

1. Dissolve the yeast in warm water and let it sit for about five minutes.
2. Mix the flour, besan (gram flour), oil, and sugar together.
3. Add the yeast solution and mix well, making sure that there are no lumps and the batter is smooth.
4. Set the batter aside and let it sit in a warm place for one hour.
5. Make sure the batter is fermented, but do not over ferment. After fermenting batter will be little lacy.

Syrup:

1. Boil the sugar and water together. Add the lemon juice and saffron and close the heat.

Making Jalebis:

1. Heat the oil in a flat frying pan about 1 1/2″ deep. To check if the oil is ready, put ont drop of batter in the oil, the batter should sizzle and come up without changing in color right away.
2. Fill the Jalebi batter into a piping bag with a number 3 nozzle.
3. Squeeze the Jalebi batter out in the hot oil in a pretzel shape to about 2 inches in diameter.
4. Fry the Jalebis until golden-brown on both sides.
5. Transfer into the warm syrup.
6. Let jalebi soak in the hot syrup for a few seconds and take out.
7. Serve hot.

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We have a winner!

We have a winner! The giveaway from CSN Stores goes to Comment#2 - Umm Mymoonah

She said "Hi, Checked out different products from CSN stores, particularly all bakeware, the one which attracted me is Nordicware Kugelhopf bundt pan, thinking of get this mould for a long time."

Congratulations! We'll be contacting you shortly for sending the gift card.

Thank you all for participating. And thanks to CSN stores for giving me the opportunity for hosting this giveaway.

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