Elo Jhelo | Fried Bengali Pastries
I’ve recently developed a craving for sweet food. This craving rears its head at the strangest of times and more often than not, behaves like that puppy determined to chew on your favourite shoe. And it’s nowhere cute because indulging this craving leads to a sugar overload, late-r nights and blurry-eyed mornings. Let’s not even mention the not-so-good effects of refined sugar if I’ve fallen prey to store-bought mithai* or those glistening chocolate éclairs.
It happens often. Very, very often.
This new craving has also turned into a major topic of discussion at the dining table. The parents stand divided with their concerns.
They both love sweets.
They indulge their sweet tooth, courtesy yours truly.
They always have sweets to offer to friends who pop in.
They don’t feel guilty about buying sweets.
BUT.
Concerns about the usual diabetes and cholesterol issues abound amid worries over the varying waistline owing to the sweet tooth and crazy hormones.
The cons of the sweet tooth being more ‘sordid’ as compared to the fun parts of the indulgence has led to Maa coming up with the brilliant idea of ‘homemade sweets’. “How about I teach you easy Bengali sweets that your dida* made back when I was a kid,” she suggested. My father perked up at the idea and quickly got down to the serious business of listing homemade Bengali mishti* he’d gorged on as a kid running wild through the village streets.
Maa perused the list and simply said, “Elo jhelo”.
Baba’s eyes went wide with delight and I was perplexed. “Say what?”
“That’s the sweet your dida would make whenever we would be expecting guests and on our birthdays. She’d make it even if there was no occasion. But most importantly, these were made for guests visiting us for Bijoya,” said Maa, adding, “there weren’t too many sweet shops in our town and well, we didn’t really have the amenities to buy sweets often. So we opted for the traditional ways.”
So what is this elo jhelo? It’s a fried pastry dipped in sugar syrup and served after the syrup has dried, giving a sweet and crispy texture. No one knows – or at least no one in my family knows – the history behind the crazy name ‘elo jhelo’. If any of you do, please enlighten me!
As Maa mentioned, this was also among the sweet dishes that my grandmothers made during the Bijoya greetings season post Durga Pujo. This one requires some dexterity and muscle power. And with Durga Puja just a week and some days away, its time to get cracking! In fact, I might just share a few more traditionally served recipes in the coming weeks – food made at home during the festival season, especially Bijoya.
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