🍯 Asabe Zainab (Zainab's fingers)

Name: Asabe Zainab (Zainab's fingers)
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Egypt · Levant
Ingredients: 250 g fine semolina; 100 g plain flour; 1 tsp dried yeast and 1 tbsp sugar; 80 ml vegetable oil, plus oil for deep-frying; About 150 ml warm water; 60 g sesame seeds; Syrup: 300 g sugar, 200 ml water, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp orange blossom water

Origin: Egypt · Levant

309kcal

per serving · 80 g

386kcal

per 100 g

4 gProtein5 g / 100 g

11 gFat14 g / 100 g

48 gCarbs60 g / 100 g

Asabe Zainab, "Zainab's fingers", are small finger-shaped sweets made from a yeasted semolina and flour dough, rolled in sesame seeds, deep-fried until crunchy and soaked in cold sugar syrup. They are crisp outside, lightly chewy inside and very sweet, with a nutty note from the toasted sesame.

Diets

✓

Vegetarianno meat or fish in a typical recipe

✓

Veganno meat, fish or animal products in a typical recipe

✓

No pork

✓

Dairy-freeno milk, cheese, butter or yogurt in a typical recipe

Contains glutenbecause of: semolina, flour

Not keto60 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Sesame

What it is made of

semolinaflouryeastsugar syrupsesameoil

Recipe

6 servings90 min

Ingredients

250 g fine semolina
100 g plain flour
1 tsp dried yeast and 1 tbsp sugar
80 ml vegetable oil, plus oil for deep-frying
About 150 ml warm water
60 g sesame seeds
Syrup: 300 g sugar, 200 ml water, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp orange blossom water

Method

Make the syrup: boil the sugar and water for 8 minutes, add the lemon juice and orange blossom water and let it cool completely.
Rub the semolina and flour with the oil, then add the yeast, sugar and enough warm water to make a firm dough. Cover and rest for 1 hour.
Roll small pieces into fingers about 6 cm long, press them on a grater or fork for ridges and roll in sesame seeds.
Deep-fry in hot oil at about 170 °C until deep golden, then drop straight into the cold syrup for 1–2 minutes and drain.

How to make it lighter

These are dense in calories: two or three fingers are a reasonable portion.
Dip them in the syrup briefly instead of soaking them, so less sugar is absorbed.
Bake them at 190 °C brushed with a little oil instead of deep-frying for a lighter version.

History

Asabe Zainab are sold in sweet shops and made at home in Egypt and the Levant, and are especially popular during Ramadan.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →