Whisk together ¼ cup flour with 2 tablespoons each of curd and water. Pour the paste into an airtight container which has enough space for the batter to rise slightly and leave in a warm, dry place overnight or even up to 2 days depending upon the weather. When ready, you will see small bubbles forming on the surface due to fermentation. This is the levain for the jalebis.
Heat sugar and water together, stirring occasionally till the sugar dissolves. Add 3 tablespoons milk and the lime juice to this and let it boil for a couple of minutes. You will see that the milk curdles and all the impurities in the sugar will get entangled in this scum. Collect this with a slotted spoon and discard to clean the sugar syrup. Add saffron strands and let this simmer on low till the syrup reaches a temperature of 100C/212F. It shouldn't reach the one thread consistency. Keep the syrup warm on very low heat. You can add a few teaspoons of water later if you need to thin out the syrup again.
When ready to fry the jalebis, whisk 3 tablespoons of the levain with ¼ cup of plain flour and ¼ cup of water till smooth. This batter should be of dropping consistency, neither runny nor too thick. Fill this batter into a squeezy bottle (like the one shown in the video), screw the top and leave for about 10 minutes.
Heat ghee or oil in a flat bottomed shallow pan till it reaches 176C/350F. If you don't have a thermometer, squeeze out a drop of the batter in to the pan and if it comes up at once, then the ghee is ready to fry the Jalebis.
Hold the bottle a few inches over the hot ghee and pipe out small concentric circles or spirals straight into the pan. You may make as many Jalebis as would fit into the pan, without touching each other. Once you finish piping, lower the heat to medium and fry the Jalebis, turning once or twice in between, till golden on both sides.
Lift the Jalebis out of the ghee with a slotted spoon or tongs, draining out any excess ghee and put them straight into the warm sugar syrup, pressing them gently into the syrup to soak. Lift them out of the syrup after half a minute and serve immediately.