Makroud
Algeria
Rédacteur en chef
Abuja, Nigeria ·
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Abuja, Nigeria ·
Makroud is a North African semolina pastry, filled, cut into diamonds, fried and then soaked in honey syrup. Diamond is the literal meaning of the word, and the shape is the point of the name. It belongs principally to Algeria and Tunisia, and it is also made in parts of Morocco, Libya and Malta. Where exactly it began is contested. Some accounts place it in the oases of Mzab and the steppes of Sétif in Algeria; others link it to Kairouan, the spiritual capital of Tunisia, which hosted the first national makroud festival in May 2008. It is written variously as makrout, maqroudh and maqrouth. The filling is the thing that varies most and the thing this recipe departs on. Traditional makroud is packed with dates, and figs and almonds appear as alternatives. **This recipe uses an almond filling rather than the date one**, which is a legitimate variation but not the classic. The semolina base is where the technique lives: it is rubbed with oil and butter and rested for at least two hours, ideally overnight, until it resembles wet oily sand. That rest is not optional. It is what allows the dough to come together with very little water and stay tender rather than tough.
Makroud is a North African semolina pastry made in Algeria and Tunisia and in parts of Morocco, Libya and Malta. Its origin is variously attributed to the oases of Mzab and the steppes of Sétif in Algeria, and to Kairouan in Tunisia.
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Combine the semolina, oil, butter and salt in a large bowl. Rub the grains between your fingers so they are all well coated. Cover with a towel and rest for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight. It should look like wet, oily sand.
When ready, combine the warm water and orange blossom water. Slowly work this into the semolina along with the flour and vanilla sugar, kneading into a soft dough. Add just enough liquid for a soft, smooth dough, and do not overwork it.
For the filling, combine the ground almonds, sugar, vanilla sugar, cinnamon and almond extract. Roll into 2 long logs.
Divide the dough into 2 balls and pat each into a rectangle about 3 times the width of a filling log.
Press an indentation down the centre of each rectangle and set a filling log into it.
Fold the dough over the filling and press the edges to seal. Roll the log gently back and forth to shape it evenly. Cut in half for easier handling if you like.
Cut each log into diagonal pieces to make diamond shapes, reshaping the cut ends neatly. Rest while the oil heats.
Heat a deep heavy saucepan with oil about three fingers deep.
Combine the honey and orange flower water in a small saucepan and warm over low heat until just below simmering. Keep warm.
Deep fry the makroud in small batches until golden on all sides, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
Dip the fried makroud into the hot honey syrup and submerge for about a minute. Drain on wire racks.
Repeat, dunking each one a second time, then drain and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
4 avis
I was worried the semolina dough would crack when rolling it around the almond log, but adding that tiny extra splash of warm water and orange flower water helped so much. Managed to get the orange flower water from a middle eastern shop down in Woolwich. Leaving the semolina and butter mix overnight is definitely the secret, it really looked like wet oily sand in the morning!
Abeg the semolina took a bit more water than expected to form a soft dough, maybe because I used the fine semovita we have here in Ibadan instead of medium-grain. But once I got the almond and cinnamon filling rolled inside and sliced them up, the taste was standard. Next time I will rest it overnight instead of just two hours sha.
That orange flower water aroma mixed with the cinnamon and almond extract filled the whole house. I made sure to let the semolina and butter rest properly until it reached that wet sand texture before working in the flour. Perfect sweet treat for breaking fast with tea, my brothers finished the whole batch in one sitting.
mine crumbled too much abeg. The semolina dough kept cracking when I tried to press the indentation for the almond filling log. I think 1/3 cup of warm water is way too small for 4 cups of semolina, I had to add almost double liquid to get anything workable. Sourced the ground almonds from Tesco in Rusholme and the flavor with the vanilla sugar was lovely, but the dough gave me proper stress.