Luqaimat

Before you start

• oil for deep frying, and a slotted spoon
• the batter needs about 1h to rise
• date syrup — dibs — from a Middle Eastern grocer

Ingredients

Serves 4 · dimmer marks are storecupboard

• 200gplain flour
• 4 tbspoil for frying
• 6 tbspdate syrup — dibs — nothing else tastes like it
• 1 tspdried yeast
• 1 tbspsugar
• 2 tbspcornflour
• 1 tspcardamom and saffron
• 1 tbspsesame seeds

Method

5 steps

1. fold · 6m

   Flour, cornflour, yeast, sugar, cardamom and saffron whisked with about 250ml of warm water into a thick smooth batter — looser than a dough, thicker than a pancake mix, falling off the spoon in a slow ribbon.

2. rest · 1 hour walk away

   Covered, somewhere warm, until it is domed and full of bubbles. Underproved batter fries into small heavy rocks.

3. fry · 6m

   Oil into a deep pan, never more than a third full, and brought to a steady medium: a scrap of batter should rise straight away and sizzle without colouring in seconds. Never move a pan of hot oil while it is full.

4. fry · 20m

   Batter squeezed out of a wet fist through the thumb, or dropped from two wet spoons, and turned as it colours. They take longer than they look — pale gold means raw in the middle, so take them right to an even deep brown.

5. finish · 5m

   Lifted onto paper for a moment only, then straight into the date syrup while they are still hot enough for it to cling, and sesame over the top.