Jalebi

Jalebi is Pakistan's most iconic street sweet — bright orange, impossibly crispy spirals of fermented batter deep-fried and immediately dunked into saffron sugar syrup. The best jalebis, found at old-city sweet shops in Lahore and Karachi, shatter audibly when you bite through the crystallized exterior, releasing a flood of warm, fragrant syrup from within. The overnight fermentation of the batter is what creates the characteristic tang and the signature crispiness that sets great jalebi apart.