Any place that makes Zoolbia (AKA Jalebi)?

Zoolbia (or zulbia) are dessert pastries made from fried dough consisting of flour, starch and yogurt. The pretzel shaped fried dough is soaked in a syrup made from sugar, rosewater, lemon juice and cardamom. They are absolutely delicious (though a little bit too sweet for my taste). The zoolbia name for the pastries is Persian, but they are made throuhghout the Middle-east and the Indian subcontinent (where they are called Jalebi). Despite its supposed ubiquitousness, I have only seen the dessert on rare occasions at Assyrian restaurants (though I did not know until I Wikied it today, that it is also made in India and Bangladesh). Does anybody know of a restaurant or store that makes this delicacy? Perhaps it is available at that Persian bakery in Andersonville, although because it is deep-fried it is probably unlikely to be found at a bakery (maybe one that makes doughnuts). As I said, I have only had it a few times at Assyrian establishments, but I would be interested in trying other national variations.

I'm assuming you don't want the Indian version, as jalebi is available in pretty much every sweet shop on Devon.

In that case, Jaafer Sweets definitely makes it, and I'm sure I've also seen it in some of the Bridgeview bakeries. By the way, a good portion of the goods sold in Middle Eastern bakeries are deep-fried (then soaked in syrup).

cilantro wrote:I'm assuming you don't want the Indian version, as jalebi is available in pretty much every sweet shop on Devon.

In that case, Jaafer Sweets definitely makes it, and I'm sure I've also seen it in some of the Bridgeview bakeries. By the way, a good portion of the goods sold in Middle Eastern bakeries are deep-fried (then soaked in syrup).

Yeah, as I looked for recipes, I found dozens of variations of the deep fried yogurt dough soaked in syrup. Some are just lumps of dough whereas some are intricate lacy geometric designs. I would like to try the Indian version. It seems the Indians use Gram flour or semolina instead of starch. The syrup seems to vary also. It has no citrus. I also do pass Jaafer Sweets occasionally. It seems that I always get stuck in traffic right by the place, but it has been years since I have been in there. Thanks for the suggestions.

You can also check Feyrouz and Nazareth sweets, also both on Kedzie. I've seen it there. Good stuff, tooth-achingly sweet and tremendously oily from frying. Perfect.

Habibi wrote:You can also check Feyrouz and Nazareth sweets, also both on Kedzie. I've seen it there. Good stuff, tooth-achingly sweet and tremendously oily from frying. Perfect.

That's the stuff alright. Great description. I don't know why I didn't think of those shops on Kedzie right away. I guess I just assumed the things were an Assyrian specialty. Now I know they are made from Africa to India. I wonder why the pastries aren't as well known as Baklava. Sugar, starch and fat, all the bad things my body craves. The perfect fuel for kids and cops. At least they have yogurt in them, so they aren't totally empty calories.

You can buy zoolbia and the closely related bamieh at Pars grocery store on Clark in Andersonville. They ship them in from Los Angeles, so they aren't freshly made, but still delicious with a hot cup of tea!