A Sweet Indulgence - Imarti

The next few days are going to be sweet indulgence with festivals around the corner. The women folks are all geared up to plan for the variates they are going to prepare this Diwali. Sweets, sweets and more sweets!
Normally I avoid making sweets on festivals, but my hubby insists that I make a few sweets so that the kids get to know of our traditions and customs.
My mom always makes this traditional sweet Imarti on festivals, it looks similar to Jalebis but taste different and requires a little extra effort.

Imarti is made with de-husked Black gram (Dhuli urad dal). The ground batter  should be soft and light in consistency.

Ingredients;

• 2 cups of Dehusked Black Gram (Dhuli urad dal)
• 2 cup of Sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 tsp. of Cardamom powder
• A pinch of Saffron
• Oil or Ghee for deep frying
• Piping bag

Method: Wash and soak the de husked black gram for 3 hours. Drain the water and grind in into very fine paste, using very little water.
Take the batter in a big vessel and beat it vigorously usnig hand or a ladle to incorporate air and make the batter fluffy.
Soak the saffron in a teaspoon of milk.

Add the soaked saffron and cardamom powder in the batter and mix it thoroughly.
Fill a piping bag with this batter. I was lazy to take out my piping bag and used a Zip lock instead. Fill the batter in the Zip lock and make a very small cut at the end.
Heat oil in a flat skillet.
Pres the bag full of batter lightly over the hot oil and make small circles in it. Let it fry till the Imartis turn golden brown in color.
Make a sugar syrup of one thread consistency and keep it aside.
Dip the fried Imartis in the sugar syrup for 5-10 minutes and take them out.

Note:
The batter I made was too frothy and the Imartis were becoming plump and soft, it was hard to get the perfect shape. I added 2-3 tsp. of Chick pea flour (Besan) to the batter and I got crispy (the first picture) Imartis.

This sweet goes to the event - Traditioanl Festive Recipes on Tasty Bites;

Some other sweet you may like on Lite Bite;