Khanfaroosh

Ingredients

Batter

• 300 grice flour
• 100 gplain flour
• 150 gsugar
• 2eggs
• about 350 ml warm milk
• 7 gdried yeast
• or 2 teaspoons baking powder

Flavourings

• a good pinch of saffron
• soaked in warm water
• 2 teaspoonsground cardamom
• 2 tablespoonsrosewater
• a pinch of salt

To fry

• oil, for deep frying
• or ghee, for a richer result

To serve

• with Arabic coffee
• or tea
• at gatherings and in Ramadan

Directions

1. Crush the saffron threads between your fingers. Put them in a small bowl with warm water. Let them steep for twenty minutes. The water should turn a deep orange. Warm the milk to blood temperature. Stir the yeast and a little sugar into it. Let it stand until it foams up. Give it about ten minutes to foam.
2. Put the rice flour and plain flour in a bowl. Add the sugar, cardamom and salt. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Add them to the dry ingredients. Pour in the yeast milk gradually. Add the saffron water and the rosewater. It should be thick rather than pourable. Add more rice flour if it is too loose.
3. Add a little milk if it is too stiff. This is closer to a thick paste than a batter. Cover the bowl over with a cloth. Let it rest somewhere warm and still. Give the yeast version about an hour.
4. 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 sizzle steadily. 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. Oil the ridged mould lightly first.
5. Press a spoonful of batter into it. Level the surface with a wet spoon. Turn it out into the hot oil carefully. Oil a coarse box grater lightly. Press a spoonful of batter against it. Roll it down the ridged face of it. Lower it straight into the hot oil.
6. Turn them gently with a slotted spoon. Give them another two or three minutes. Break the first one open to check. The inside should be cooked and soft. Lift them out onto a wire rack. A rack keeps the ridges crisp.
7. Let the excess oil drip away fully. They should be crisp outside and soft within. Pile them into a bowl or on a plate. Serve Arabic coffee alongside them. They keep two days in a sealed tin.

Technique

• The batter is pressed into a special ridged mould, or rolled down the face of a coarse grater, and the pattern holds through the frying; those ridges are the signature of the sweet and also give the fat more surface to crisp against.
• The batter must be thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon, closer to a paste than a pourable batter, because it has to be pressed rather than poured; a thin batter will not take the mould pattern at all.
• Rice flour has no gluten to develop, which gives the short crumbly texture and crisps far better than wheat alone, though a little wheat flour helps the cakes hold together.

Substitutions

• Baking powder in place of yeast is faster and skips the long rest.
• A coarse box grater stands in for the ridged mould.

Variations

• The yeast version has a slight tang the baking powder one lacks.
• Some cooks fry them in ghee for a noticeably richer result.
• The saffron, cardamom and rosewater proportions vary between families.

History

An old Gulf sweet whose textured rings come from a special ridged mould or grater.

Frequently asked questions

What is Khanfaroosh?

Khanfaroosh is a dessert from Bahrain: small fried cakes of rice flour, saffron, cardamom and rosewater. An old Gulf sweet whose textured rings come from a special ridged mould or grater.

How long does Khanfaroosh take to make?

Khanfaroosh takes 30 minutes plus resting of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 20 cakes. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Khanfaroosh?

Yes, within limits. Baking powder in place of yeast is faster and skips the long rest. A coarse box grater stands in for the ridged mould.

What is the most important thing to get right in Khanfaroosh?

Put the rice flour and plain flour in a bowl. Add the sugar, cardamom and salt. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Add them to the dry ingredients. Pour in the yeast milk gradually. Add the saffron water and the rosewater. It should be thick rather than pourable. Add more rice flour if it is too loose.