Zalabya (Egyptian Syrup Doughnuts)
Abuja, Nigeria · View all recipes
Overview
Zalabya are small round balls of yeasted batter, deep-fried until crisp and dipped briefly in cold sugar syrup. They are Egyptian street food, sold from kiosks all over the country for very little, and they are eaten most of all during Ramadan. The source's description is the best one: think of them as the round part that is missing from a doughnut. They are crunchy outside and light and airy inside, and the syrup is absorbed only into the outer layer, so biting into one gives a burst of sweetness against a plain interior rather than sweetness all the way through. The names travel. Loukoumades in Greece, lokma in Turkey, zalabya or zalabia in Egypt, and loqmet al-qadi, the judge's bite, across the Arabic-speaking world. Versions are eaten all around the Mediterranean and into South Asia, where jalebi is a related but differently shaped relative. The batter is very wet, closer to a thick pouring batter than a dough, and that is what makes them light. It is dropped by the spoonful straight into the oil rather than shaped. The syrup should be cool when the hot balls go in, for the same reason as koeksisters: the temperature difference draws it in. The source's ingredient list has run its headings into the list and one water quantity is malformed.
AFN Heritage Note
Zalabya are small deep-fried balls of yeasted batter soaked in sugar syrup, sold as street food across Egypt and eaten particularly during Ramadan. They are known as loukoumades in Greece, lokma in Turkey, and loqmet al-qadi, the judge's bite, across the Arabic-speaking world.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Make the syrup first. Combine the sugar, water, lemon juice and orange blossom water in a saucepan over low to medium heat and cook gently, stirring, for 10 to 15 minutes. Set it aside to cool completely.
- 2
Dissolve the yeast and the teaspoon of sugar in half a cup of lukewarm water and leave it for 10 to 15 minutes until frothy.
- 3
Put the flour in a large bowl. Mix in the yeast water and the salt, then work in about 2 1/2 cups of lukewarm water gradually, beating until the batter is smooth and elastic. It should be a thick pouring batter rather than a dough.
- 4
Cover with a towel and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour.
- 5
Heat the oil in a deep pan until very hot.
- 6
Drop small balls of batter into the oil with a tablespoon, turning them until crisp, golden and puffed.
- 7
Lift them out and dip them into the cool syrup for a few seconds, hot into cool is what draws the syrup into the outer layer.
- 8
Lift them out with a slotted spoon, dust with cinnamon and serve hot or cold.
Africook’s Notes
- Make the syrup first so it has time to cool. Hot balls into cool syrup is what pulls it in.
- Keep the batter wet. It should be a thick pouring batter, not a dough, that is what makes them light inside.
- Dip briefly, a few seconds only. Longer and the syrup soaks all the way through and they go heavy.
- Two wet spoons make dropping the batter far easier than one.
- Do not crowd the pan. The oil temperature drops and they absorb fat rather than crisping.
- Nutella or cinnamon sugar in place of the syrup are both common now, as the source notes.
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