Chanar jalebi recipe, Paneer jalebi

Paneer jalebi/ Chanar jalebi is a soft, juicy and scrumptious coil shaped deep fried sweet/ dessert prepared with a base ingredient that is freshly made chena/ chanar/ paneer.

This chanar jalebi sweet looks like jalebi but tastes somewhat similar to like this paneer gulab jamun. But definitely the texture is different as the paneer used in the recipe is fresh and homemade and in this quarantine whenever my milk got spoiled made best use of it by making paneer, curd and many other sweets like these. So one such quarantine sweet is this chenar jilpi/ Chana jalebi and you can try preparing it for this diwali if your are bored of regular jamun. If you missed my other diwali posts for this year they are here:

KALA JAMUN
KARUPATTI ADHIRASAM

If you wish to use store bought paneer, grind it in blender/ mixture adding a tbsp of water and the consistency should be correct. Also when making chena use whole/ full cream milk only.
Few recipe with homemade chena/paneer:

So let’s get to the making of chena jalebi/ chanar jalebi!

Chanar jalebi recipe, Paneer jalebi

2020-11-03 21:14:00

Serves 4

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

35 min

Total Time

50 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

35 min

Total Time

50 min

Ingredients

1. Milk – 1 liter (whole/ Full cream milk)
2. Vinegar – 1 tbsp
3. Chenna- 1 cup (derived from milk or paneer)
4. Milk powder – 1 tbsp
5. Maida – 2 tbsp
6. Baking powder ¼ tsp
7. Ghee / oil – 1 tsp
8. Sugar – 1 tsp

Sugar syrup

1. Sugar – 1 ½ cup
2. Water – 1 ½ cup
3. Cardamom - 1

Note

* 1 cup = 235 ml

Instructions

In a pan/ pot add ¼ cup water then add milk. Mix well and allow it to boil well. When the milk starts to boil put the flame to low and add lemon juice/ Vinegar little by little to the boiling milk and mix well. After few seconds you will notice the milk curdling, at that point put off the flame and add ice cubes to the curdled milk to prevent it from over boiling or to stop the process. This curdled milk is called chenna. Do not keep heating the curdled milk as it will yield rubbery output.
Remove the pan from the stove and keep it aside for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes gently pour the chenna in the muslin cloth and the water will start draining gradually. Now wash the chenna well in running water to get rid of lemon/ vinegar flavors.
Now after all the water is completely drained tie the cloth really tight, squeeze as much as water possible and hang the cloth for around 30 minutes till all the water is drained. Do not allow it to hang for more than 30 minutes as the chenna might loose its texture.
Meanwhile, in a pan add water and sugar, mix well and allow it to boil. When the syrup boils add cardamom powder/ one cardamom. When the syrup thickens put off the flame and keep it aside. (It took 10 to 12 minutes for me get thick syrup).
After 30 minutes remove the chenna/ paneer from the muslin cloth and transfer it to a plate (make sure the chenna is soft and sticky if not add little water to make it sticky. To the soft chena/ chana add soft milk powder, baking powder, maida, sugar and ghee/ oil. Mix well and knead it into soft dough. Make sure to knead it at least for 4 to 5 minutes to get right texture. Also make sure the chena should be soft and hard as it will be tough to roll into jalebi. If the chena is hard the jalebi will split in oil so make sure to retain its moisture. Just in case if the chena/ mixture turns hard you can add the water from the chena/ normal water and the consistency of the dough will become sift again which will make it easier to roll like coil. Hopefully it should correct the texture, that’s how I got it right.
Pinch a small sized chenna and roll it into a log as shown in the picture then roll it like a coil/ jalebi into spiral. Keep it aside. Repeat the process till all the chenna is over.
Heat oil in a pan when the oil is hot enough put the flame to low and then slide each coil shaped paneer jalebi in oil and fry it till turns golden brown in low to medium. When the jalebi looks cooked and is golden in color remove from oil using slotted spoon and drop the fried jalebi in hot sugar syrup. Allow the jalebi to soak in sugar syrup for 2 to 3 minutes and it will absorb all the sugar syrup. When the jalebi is all soaked garnish with shredded pistachios and serve it.

By Sandhya Riyaz

Sandhya's recipes https://www.sandyathome.com/

How to make Chanar jalebi with step by step images

In a pan/ pot add ¼ cup water then add milk. Mix well and allow it to boil well. When the milk starts to boil put the flame to low and add lemon juice/ Vinegar little by little to the boiling milk and mix well. After few seconds you will notice the milk curdling, at that point put off the flame.
When the milk curdles add ice cubes to prevent it from over boiling or to stop the process. This curdled milk is called chenna. Do not keep heating the curdled milk as it will yield rubbery output. Remove the pan from the stove and keep it aside for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes gently pour the chenna in the colander so that water will start draining gradually. Now wash the chenna well in running water to get rid of lemon/ vinegar flavors.
Now after all the water is completely drained put the chenna in a muslin cloth. Tie the cloth really tight, squeeze as much as water possible and hang the cloth for around 30 minutes till all the water is drained. Do not allow it to hang for more than 30 minutes as the chenna might loose its texture.
Meanwhile, in a pan add water and sugar, mix well and allow it to boil. When the syrup boils add cardamom powder/ one cardamom. When the syrup thickens put off the flame and keep it aside. (It took 10 to 12 minutes for me get thick syrup).
After 30 minutes remove the chenna/ paneer from the muslin cloth and transfer it to a plate (make sure the chenna is soft and sticky if not add little water to make it sticky. To the soft chena/ chana add soft milk powder, baking powder, maida, sugar and ghee/ oil. Mix well and knead it into soft dough. Make sure to knead it at least for 4 to 5 minutes to get right texture. Also make sure the chena should be soft and not hard as it will be tough to roll into jalebi. If the chena is hard the jalebi will split in oil so make sure to retain its moisture. Just in case if the chena/ mixture turns hard you can add the water from the chena/ normal water and the consistency of the dough will become sift again which will make it easier to roll like coil. Hopefully it should correct the texture, that’s how I got it right. Divide the chena dough into equal sized small lemon sized balls.
Pinch a small sized chenna and roll it into a log as shown in the picture then roll it like a coil/ jalebi into spiral. Keep it aside. Repeat the process till all the chenna is over.
Heat oil in a pan when the oil is hot enough put the flame to low and then slide each coil shaped paneer jalebi in oil and fry it till turns golden brown in low to medium. When the jalebi looks cooked and is golden in color remove from oil using slotted spoon.
Now drop the fried jalebi in hot sugar syrup. Allow the jalebi to soak in sugar syrup for 2 to 3 minutes and it will absorb all the sugar syrup. When the jalebi is all soaked garnish with shredded pistachios and serve it.