Imarti / Jhangri

Imarti or Jhangri is a deep fried,sugar syrup soaked lentil fritter. I was always fascinated by these glistening saffron colored sweets I would see at our favorite mithia-wala ( Indian Confectioner ). One of his apprentice would always be seen frying these up making sure that fresh batches were made for the never-ending demand for it. Scores of customers can be seen coming out of his shop carrying unevenly shaped newspaper-wrapped parcels or boxes all containing various sweets in a delicious rainbow of colors and flavors.

My son loves this along with its cousin the Jalebi ( made from all purpose flour and yogurt ). He first had it in India when attending my mama's wedding ( my mother's brother ). There my sister Ketaki was serving it to all the guest who came for lunch the day before the wedding and he followed her around telling her to stop serving it as there would be none left for him, much to the amusement of all those present. Later it became his ritual to sit on the motorbike in between Ketaki and her dear hubby Abhishek and drive down to the local mithai-wala to get some more of his favorite sweets.

I tried both Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe and also Tarla Dalal's recipe. The both make great Imartis. Below I have adapted Tarla Dalal's recipe, which I found, made crispier Imartis. Before you embark on this journey, it will help you to also view how the famous chef from Vah Reh Vah makes these.