Imarti
Mar 01, 2015, Updated Oct 20, 2018
Imarti is a popular Indian sweet made by deep frying lentil batter which is then soaked in cardamom and rose flavored sugar syrup.
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Even before I say anything I just want to say that this post is dedicated to my dad! He loves imarti (or Emarti), it’s his most favorite sweet in the world. I don’t think anything makes him more happy that eating hot imartis for breakfast. He often goes to Haldiram (a popular chain of restaurant in Delhi] to just eat Imartis, yes that’s how much he loves them! As soon as I made these, I messaged him a picture on Whats app and since then he has been saying it’s so unfair that we live thousands of miles apart. But he’ll be here in May (YAY!!) so I’m definitely going to make these for him then!
Since Holi [Indian festival of colors) is near, I thought of sharing an Indian sweet recipe with my readers and so here it is. Imarti batter is made from urad dal (a lentil) which is then shaped and deep fried and then dipped in sugar syrup. Imarti and Jalebi are very similar in shape and people often confuse the two. Both are also yellow and orange in color, that’s how they have been made traditionally. Even though they look similar, jalebi is made using maida (all purpose flour) while imarti is made with urad dal (split black gram without skin]. Also imarti is thicker and less crispier than jalebi.
Imarti is also popularly known as “Jangri” in south India, same thing but different names! 🙂 Since I’m from North, I know this sweet as Imarti. It’s not a difficult recipe to make but like with any other Indian sweet you have to be careful with the batter and sugar syrup consistency. Let’s talk about the 3 important things in this recipe.
1. The consistency of the batter: So you soak urad dal overnight and then grind it in your blender using only little water. Add 1 tablespoon at a time and add enough to just grind the batter. for grinding 1/2 cup of urad dal around 4-5 tablespoons of water should be enough. Once the dal is grind, add the rice flour (or corn flour) , the food color and mix the batter continuously using a spoon or your hands for 3-4 minutes. It’s a thick batter, not super thick that you can’t pipe it but thick enough.
2. The temperature of the oil: When you are piping the batter in the oil, the temperature of the oil should be medium-low. If the temperature is high, the batter floats up immediately and you can’t complete the imarti design. Once you have piped the batter, you can then increase the temperature to medium to cook the imartis further.
3. Piping the batter in the hot oil: In sweet shops, people use a especially stitched cloth with a hole in the center to pipe the batter for imartis. Since I don’t work at a sweet shop, I obviously had to look for other alternatives. One good option is to use the squeeze bottles. But I used my cake decorating piping bag fitted with Wilton tip #10 for this. Since I do make lot of swirls on cupcakes, this wasn’t very difficult for me. If you are not used to moving your hands like this, don’t worry, just practice on a plate before trying in the oil. It’s not difficult!
I couldn’t click while piping the imartis. It was difficult to hold the camera in one hand and pipe the batter in hot oil with another! Maybe it’s time I start using my tripod and remote, I am just so lazy! Anyway so I couldn’t get the pictures of how to pipe this but basically you make one round with the batter and then start making small circles one after another on top of that that circular round which you first made.
This is how the FRONT of the Imarti should look like.
and here’s the BACK. See the round base over which you pipe the smaller circles.
I hope these points will make it a little easier for you to make imartis and now on to the recipe.
Method
Soak dhuli urad dal overnight or for a minimum of 6 hours in enough water. Transfer the soaked dal to your blender.
Adding little water at a time, blend the dal to a fine paste. Transfer to a bowl and add food color and rice flour [or cornstarch] to it.
Using your hands or a spoon, mix the batter for 3-4 minutes continuously. Set aside for 15-20 minutes.
While the batter is resting for 15 minutes, make the sugar syrup. Add sugar in a pan on medium heat.
Add water just enough to cover the sugar. Stir continuously till sugar is dissolved.
After 4-5 minutes the syrup will develop a one string consistency which means that if you put a drop of the syrup between your thumb and index finger and move the fingers apart, you will notice the syrup forming one string/thread (see picture below for reference). At this stage add rose water, crushed cardamom seeds, saffron strands, lemon juice and switch off the heat. The sugar syrup is now ready for dipping in the imartis. You can strain it in a bowl to get a clear syrup.
Pour ghee (clarified butter) into a wok/kadai on medium-low heat. While the ghee is getting hot, transfer the batter into the piping bag or a squeeze bottle. I used wilton tip#10 here, you can simply use a ziplock bag and make a small cut in it to pipe the imartis.
Pipe the imartis into the ghee once it’s mildly hot. Make sure ghee is not super hot else you won’t be able to pipe the batter, keep the heat at medium-low. Make one round with the batter and then start making small circles adjacent to one another on top of that round that you first made. [See pictures of how the front and back of imarti should look like].
Once you have piped the batter, increase heat to medium and fry till crisp from both sides. Once fried, take out the imarti, shaking off the excess ghee.
Dip the fried imarti in the sugar syrup for few seconds. Remember the sugar syrup should be warm at this point.
Flip the imarti to dip the other side in the sugar syrup too.
Remove from the sugar syrup and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat.
Garnish with crushed pistachios immediately and enjoy hot hot imartis!
* If you are having problem understanding the one thread consistency of the sugar syrup, simply make it sticky. When you press the syrup between your fingers, it should be sticky.
* I was able to get 8-10 imartis out of this batter. You can get more or less depending on how big or small you make them.
* Lemon juice is added to the sugar syrup to prevent it’s crystallization.
* I deep fried these imartis in ghee because they taste best that way. For vegan version, use oil for deep frying.
* The sugar syrup should be warm when you dip the fried imartis into it. So in case it has cooled down, heat it a little before dipping the imartis.
* I would suggest not making more than 1-2 imartis at a time especially if you are making this for the first time. Try 1 and check the oil temperature and the consistency of the batter. If you think the batter is thin, you can add more rice flour to the remaining batter.
* Start with little food color and add more only if you are not happy with the color and want a darker shade.
* The imarti can taste of raw urad dal if it isn’t fried properly. So if you think it tastes raw, simply out it back in the ghee again and fry for some more time.
Imarti
Ingredients
- ½ cup urad dal dhuli soaked overnight (split black gram without skin)
- 1 tablespoon rice flour or cornstarch
- orange food color
- ghee clarified butter, for frying the imartis
sugar syrup
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- ⅓ cup + 1 teaspoon water
- ½ teaspoon rose water
- 3-4 green cardamom pods seeds crushed using mortar & pestle
- 3-4 strands of saffron
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- pistachios crushed to garnish
Instructions
- Soak dhuli urad dal overnight or for a minimum of 6 hours in enough water.
- Transfer the soaked dal to your blender and adding little water at a time, blend the dal to a fine paste.
- Transfer to a bowl and add food color and rice flour to it.
- Using your hands or a spoon, mix the batter for 3-4 minutes continuously. Set aside for 15-20 minutes.
- While the batter is resting for 15 minutes, make the sugar syrup.
- Add sugar in a pan on medium heat and add water just enough to cover the sugar. Stir continuously till sugar is dissolved.
- After 4-5 minutes the syrup will develop a one string consistency which means that if you put a drop of the syrup between your thumb and index finger and move the fingers apart, you will notice the syrup forming one string/thread (see picture above for reference).
- At this stage add rose water, crushed cardamom seeds, saffron strands, lemon juice and switch off the heat. The sugar syrup is now ready for dipping in the imartis.
- Pour ghee into a kadai on medium-low heat.
- While the ghee is getting hot, transfer the batter into the piping bag or a squeeze bottle. I used wilton tip#10 here, you can simply use a ziplock bag and make a small cut in it to pipe the imartis.
- Pipe the imartis into the ghee once it's mildly hot. Make sure ghee is not super hot else you won't be able to pipe the batter, keep the heat at medium-low.
- Make one round with the batter and then start making small circles adjacent to one another on top of that round that you first made. [See pictures of how the front and back of imarti should look like in the post above].
- Once you have piped the batter, increase heat to medium and fry till crisp from both sides.
- Once fried, take out the imarti, shaking off the excess ghee.
- Dip the fried imarti in the sugar syrup for few seconds. Remember the sugar syrup should be warm at this point.
- Flip the imarti to dip the other side in the sugar syrup too.
- Remove from the sugar syrup and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat.
- Garnish with crushed pistachios immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Imarti
