Lokmet el qadi

Ingredients

Batter

• 300 gplain flour
• 50 gcornflour
• 7 gdried yeast
• 1 teaspoonsugar
• 1/2 teaspoonsalt
• about 350 ml warm water
• 1 tablespoonoil

Syrup

• 400 gsugar
• 200 mlwater
• 1 teaspoonlemon juice
• 1 tablespoonrosewater
• or orange-blossom water
• 1cinnamon stick, optional

To fry

• oil, for deep frying

To finish

• ground pistachios
• or desiccated coconut
• ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Flour alone gives a chewier result. Hot syrup on hot fritters soaks straight through. Put the sugar and water in a pan. Warm it until the sugar dissolves. Bring the pan up to a full boil. Add the lemon juice once it boils. Those sugars stop the syrup crystallising.
2. Let it boil for about eight minutes. Do not stir it once it is boiling. Brush the sides down with water instead. Judging the syrup takes a look. Take it right off the heat then. Stir in all of the rosewater now. Let it cool right down completely. The syrup must be genuinely cold.
3. Make it well before you start frying. Warm the water to blood temperature. Stir the yeast and the sugar into it. Let it stand until it foams up. Give it about ten minutes to foam.
4. Put the flour, cornflour and salt in a bowl. Pour in the foaming yeast liquid. Add the oil into the bowl too. Whisk it until it is completely smooth. Judging the batter takes a look. Cover the bowl over with a cloth. Leave it somewhere warm to rise. Give it about one full hour there.
5. Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot. Fill it no more than half full. Heat it to about one hundred and seventy degrees. It should rise and puff straight away.
6. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on an oil fire at all. Keep children well away from the pot. Shaping them is done by squeezing. Take a handful of batter in a wet hand. Squeeze it up between finger and thumb. Scoop the ball off with a wet spoon. Drop it gently into the hot oil. Two wet spoons also work well.
7. Keep everything wet to stop sticking. Aim for about a large marble size. Take them darker than seems right. Break the first one open to check. The inside should be light and open. Lift them out onto a wire rack. Let all the excess oil drip away. They go into the syrup while very hot. Tip the hot fritters into the cold syrup. Turn them through it with a spoon.
8. Let them sit for about a minute. A minute is enough to coat them. Lift them out rather than leaving them. Lift them with a slotted spoon. Set them out on a serving dish. Let the excess syrup drip off. Scatter ground pistachios over them. Dust ground cinnamon over the top. Serving them is always done warm. Pile them onto a serving plate. They keep a day at room temperature.

Technique

• Hot syrup on hot fritters soaks straight through and makes them soggy; cold syrup on hot fritters is what works, since the hot oil inside creates outward pressure and the cold syrup coats without soaking in. Hot syrup over cooled fritters also works — one of the two must be cold, and hot on hot must not happen.
• Take the fritters darker than seems right, since the syrup softens them considerably and a pale fritter goes soggy at once where a dark crisp one holds up.
• Fried dough balls in syrup run across the whole region: luqaimat in the Gulf, awamat in the Levant, loukoumades in Greece and lokma in Turkey, which is where the word comes from; llokuma in Kosovo shares the name without the syrup.

Substitutions

• Orange-blossom water stands in for rosewater in the syrup.
• Cornflour alongside the flour gives a shorter crisper crust than flour alone.

Variations

• Shops leave them sitting in syrup, which makes them noticeably softer.
• They are finished with pistachios, coconut or cinnamon.
• The name means the judge’s morsels, though the reason for it is not certain.

History

Its name means the judge’s morsels; a standard Ramadan sweet across Egypt, sold by the kilo from trays.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lokmet el qadi?

Lokmet el qadi is a dessert from Egypt: small doughnut balls fried crisp and drowned in sugar syrup. Its name means the judge’s morsels; a standard Ramadan sweet across Egypt, sold by the kilo from trays.

How long does Lokmet el qadi take to make?

Lokmet el qadi takes 20 minutes plus rising of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 50 pieces. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Lokmet el qadi?

Yes, within limits. Orange-blossom water stands in for rosewater in the syrup. Cornflour alongside the flour gives a shorter crisper crust than flour alone.

What is the most important thing to get right in Lokmet el qadi?

Let it boil for about eight minutes. Do not stir it once it is boiling. Brush the sides down with water instead. Judging the syrup takes a look. Take it right off the heat then. Stir in all of the rosewater now. Let it cool right down completely. The syrup must be genuinely cold.