Emirati recipe
How to make Luqaimat
لقيمات
All of the Emirates, at every gathering and in Ramadan
Small balls of yeast batter, flavoured with cardamom and saffron, deep-fried until crisp and golden outside and soft inside, then drizzled with date syrup and sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Ingredients
- 250 g plain flour
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 1 teaspoon dried yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- A pinch of saffron soaked in 2 tablespoons warm water
- About 300 ml warm water
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
- Date syrup or honey, and sesame seeds, to serve
Method
- Mix the flour, cornflour, yeast, sugar, cardamom and a pinch of salt. Stir in the saffron water and enough warm water to make a thick, smooth batter, a little thicker than pancake batter.
- Cover and leave in a warm place for about an hour, until it has doubled and is full of bubbles.
- Heat the oil to about 170 °C in a deep pan, filling it no more than a third full. Drop in small spoonfuls of batter, a few at a time, and fry, turning them, until golden all over.
- Lift them out onto kitchen paper, drizzle with date syrup and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Eat them warm.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
The name means 'little bites'. Similar fried dough balls go back to recipes written down in the 13th century.
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