Lokma

Ingredients

Batter

• 300 gplain flour
• 50 gcornflour
• 7 ginstant yeast
• 1 tbspsugar
• ½ tspsalt
• 300 mlwarm water

Syrup

• 400 gsugar
• 300 mlwater
• 1 tsplemon juice
• 1strip lemon peel

To fry

• oil, for deep frying

To finish

• ground cinnamon
• ground walnut or pistachio, optional

Directions

1. Make the syrup first and let it go completely cold. Boil the sugar, water, lemon juice and peel for 10 minutes, then cool it.
2. Hot lokma into cold syrup. The temperature difference is what gives the thin crackling shell, and warm syrup soaks straight in and makes them soggy.
3. Whisk the flour, cornflour, yeast, sugar and salt with the warm water into a thick, smooth batter.
4. The cornflour is what makes lokma shatter rather than merely crisp, and it is the difference from a plain doughnut batter.
5. Beat it hard for 5 minutes, then cover and leave it 1 hour 30 minutes until risen and bubbly.
6. Stir it down very gently, keeping as much of the gas in as you can.
7. Heat the oil to 170°C (340°F).
8. Take up batter in your fist and squeeze small balls out between thumb and forefinger, cutting them off with a wet spoon.
9. The fist-and-spoon method is why lokma are never perfectly round, and the irregular surface is what catches the syrup.
10. Fry in batches for 4 to 5 minutes, turning constantly, until deep golden all over.
11. Keep them moving. They float, and the upper half stays pale unless you turn them the whole time.
12. Lift them out and drop them straight into the cold syrup while still hot.
13. Turn them in the syrup for about a minute, then lift them out.
14. A minute only. Longer and they turn to sponge, and the point is a crisp shell over a soft, hollow middle.
15. Dust with cinnamon and ground nuts and serve at once.
16. Now the thing that distinguishes lokma from every other version of this sweet: it is closely tied to death.
17. In Turkey lokma is cooked in enormous quantities and handed out free in the street on the seventh and fortieth day after a death, as hayır, an act of charity in the name of the person who has died.
18. You will see a stall set up outside a mosque or on a pavement with no price, and taking one is understood as saying a prayer for the dead.
19. It is also sold commercially and eaten as an ordinary sweet, so both readings are correct depending on where you meet it.
20. The Greek loukoumades is the same fried dough with honey rather than sugar syrup and none of the funerary association.

Technique

• The batter is deliberately wet and sticky and is never rolled or handled as a dough.
• They must be eaten within an hour and are always made to order.
• The name comes from lokma, meaning a mouthful or a morsel.

Substitutions

• Honey syrup in place of sugar syrup.
• Two wet teaspoons in place of the fist-and-spoon method.

Variations

• Loukoumades, the Greek version, with honey.
• Kaimati and luqaimat, the Swahili coast and Gulf versions, with cardamom.
• Filled with chocolate or cream, which is a modern shop variation.

History

Descended from medieval Arab luqmat al-qadi recorded in thirteenth-century cookbooks; Aegean towns fry it in the street as charity.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lokma?

Lokma is a dessert from Turkey: syrup-soaked fried dough balls, often handed out free in memory of the dead. Descended from medieval Arab luqmat al-qadi recorded in thirteenth-century cookbooks; Aegean towns fry it in the street as charity.

How long does Lokma take to make?

Lokma takes 20 min plus 1 hr 30 min rising of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 50. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Lokma?

Yes, within limits. Honey syrup in place of sugar syrup. Two wet teaspoons in place of the fist-and-spoon method.

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

The cornflour is what makes lokma shatter rather than merely crisp, and it is the difference from a plain doughnut batter.