Luqaimat (Deep Fried Dumplings in a Cardamom, Lemon & Saffron Syrup)
Luqaimat aka Kaimati aka Kalmati aka loukoumades aka Lokma - We have all tried to claim them as our own. You can travel from Africa to Greece to Turkey and then finally to Oman and we are all making these delicious sweet dumplings. The fundamentals to how they are made are all very similar but the syrups and toppings are what differ depending on where you are from.
Fun fact: Luqaimat means ‘small bite’ in Arabic while in Turkish Lokma means a ‘mouthful’.
Some like them spongey and others like them to have a crunch on the outside (I am a crunch kind of gal). My mum’s secrets to the perfect crunchy exterior have always been Rice Flour and Slow Deep Frying! Helps them last longer than a day (that’s if you can even resist saving them!).
I am not the best person for a perfect round shape. Still trying to learn this skill, but practice makes perfect. There are million methods I have tried but I have given you the most simplest of them all. However who said these have to be round?! They just need to be a small bite!
Things to note:
You will need to deep fry these, don’t try and shallow fry, we don’t want oily pancakes.
You will need to make a syrup, but you can always mix them into date syrup if you don’t want to make a normal syrup. I personally like having the option of both!
Slow frying is essential. You want your oil hot but don’t try and speed up the frying by whacking the heat up. To get that perfect crunchy exterior YOU NEED to have patience.
Make sure your teaspoons are greased up, the batter will not slip off easily if not and then you get weird shapes. But weird is not bad!
Syrup has to be cold when the Luqaimat gets coated in them, otherwise you will be left with soggy dumplings.
Ingredients:
Syrup:
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Water
Juice of 1/2 a fresh Lemon
5 Crushed Cardamom Pods
Pinch of Saffron
Luqaimat:
1 Cup of Plain Flour
1/2 Cup of Rice Flour
3/4 Cup Warm Water
1 Packet (7g) Instant Yeast
2 TBSP Plain or Coconut Yoghurt (Warm)
Vegetable Oil for Deep Frying
Crushed Pistachios (Optional Decoration)
Method:
Syrup:
Place all the syrup ingredients in a saucepan and give it a stir.
Place the hob on high and then DON’T stir the mixture anymore otherwise you will cause crystallisation.
Once the syrup begins to bubble you need to time the mixture for exactly 9 minutes or until the mixture reaches 110°c. The mixture should be yellow/golden in colour.
Remove from the heat and leave it to completely cool!
Luqaimat:
Pour your yeast into the warm water and leave for 5 minutes to ferment.
Combine your flours, yoghurt and then the yeast water into a large bowl.
Mix and beat well with your hand, you want to keep kneading/beating till you have a super smooth batter mix which is quite a loose paste but not dripping and thin.
Once you have reached this state, cover the bowl with cling film or a cloth and leave in a warm place till it rises (a minimum of an hour).
Once the batter has risen, heat up your oil in a saucepan or wok to a high heat.
You then want to reduce your heat to medium to high.
Using two teaspoons, dip them in cold oil so they are slippery and then with one teaspoon scoop up the mixture, hold it over the hot oil and use the other spoon to push it off and into the oil.
Make sure to keep the spoons very close to the oil so that it doesn’t splash and so that the dumplings don’t loose their shape too much when they fall.
Repeat step 7 until you have a saucepan/wok full of little dumplings frying away.
Using a large spoon with holes, move the dumplings in the oil around and keep turning them so they cook evenly.
If you fry them slowly they should be completely golden within about 10 - 12 minutes.
Once they are golden, remove from the oil and shake off the excess oil from them and then drop them into your syrup.
Stir them carefully in the syrup and leave them in there for about 5 minutes (you really want the syrup to soak in and stick).
Remove from the syrup and serve with a sprinkle of pistachios (if you fancy).