Plan a special platter

With only a day to go for Raksha Bandhan, all you sisters must be busy in last-minute preparations. So what’s on your platter this year? Have you planned anything special for your brother? If not, then Chef Md Enamulla Khan (Ali) can help you make the day memorable.
On Raksha Bandhan, sisters tie rakhi on brothers’ wrists and offer them sweet and snacks. Brothers return the love and respect with gifts and blessings. On this auspicious occasion, you can put in extra effort and prepare a surprise platter of home-made jalebis and Corn, Spinach and Feta Borek (Turkish pastry). Khan can guide you in the kitchen.

Ingredients for the jalebi batter

1 cup of all-purpose flour
1½ tablespoon of corn flour
1½ tablespoon of gram flour
2 tablespoons of ghee (clarified butter)
Pinch of salt; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1 teaspoon of yeast; About 1 cup warm water

Ingredients for the syrup

1½ cup sugar; 1 cup of water
3 cloves; 2 green cardamom, crushed
Pinch of saffron threads (optional)

Direction

Mix half a cup of warm water with sugar and yeast. Stir, cover and let it activate.
In a mixing bowl, whisk all-purpose flour with corn flour, gram flour and salt. Pour ghee and mix well. Now pour the activated yeast and start whisking. Put two spoons of warm water at a time as you continue stirring. Once the batter is smooth, cover the bowl and keep it in a warm place for the batter to ferment. It should take about 2-3 hours and during that time, do not shake or move the bowl.
Once the batter ferments, make the sugar syrup. In a saucepan, mix everything and let it boil for about 7 minutes. It should be sticky and not too thick. To fry the jalebi, heat enough oil in a flat saucepan. Keep the heat at medium-low. Now using either a piping bag or a squeeze bottle, start squeezing out the batter in hot oil making concentric circles. Do not overcrowd the pan. Fry until it’s golden-brown. It should take about 5-7 minutes. Put the fried jalebis into the golden syrup and let them swim there for about a minute or two. Then take them off and put on a serving plate.
The batter can also be prepared without yeast. In that case, you have to add sour yogurt to prepare the batter and allow it to rest overnight for it to ferment. While frying the jalebi, make sure the oil is at medium-low or else the concentric circles will be very difficult to shape up. Do not fret over the shape because that comes with practice.

Ingredients for pastry

Filo pastry-100 gm; 200 gm spinach; 80 gm of American corn; 75 gm of Feta cheese; 20 gm of Garlic; 20 gm of Onion; 10 gm of Nutmeg; 80 ml of Olive oil; Refined flour-150 ml; Salt to taste

Direction

Heat oil in a frying pan. Add finely chopped onion and then garlic. Add olive oil with some olives in it. Add finely chopped spinach and cook it well. Once it is soft and cooked well, add salt, nutmeg and corn into the mixture. Take it out. Cool it down to room temperature. Later add feta cheese into the mixture.
Take a filo sheet (pastry) and make a triangle fold in that. (You can make cigar shape as well).
Keep it in refrigerator to set. Then take it out and deep fry it. Serve well with tomato dip or cocktail dressing.