🍯 Luqaimat
Luqaimat are small, crisp dumplings of yeasted dough, deep-fried until golden and then drizzled with date syrup and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. The dough is often perfumed with cardamom and saffron, so the balls are crunchy outside, soft and airy inside and fragrant. They are a favourite sweet in the Gulf, especially during Ramadan, served hot with Arabic coffee.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 400 g flour
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 7 g dried yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 400 ml warm water
- ½ tsp ground cardamom and a pinch of saffron soaked in 1 tbsp warm water
- A pinch of salt
- 120 ml date syrup
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- Oil for deep-frying
Method
- Mix the flour, cornflour, yeast, sugar, salt, cardamom, saffron water and warm water into a smooth, sticky batter.
- Cover and leave for 1 hour until bubbly and doubled.
- Heat the oil to about 175 °C. Squeeze small balls of batter through your fist and drop them in with a wet spoon.
- Fry, turning, until deep golden and crisp, then drain on paper.
- Drizzle with date syrup, sprinkle with sesame and serve warm.
How to make it lighter
- Five or six balls with coffee is a reasonable serving.
- Drizzle the date syrup lightly instead of soaking the balls.
- Keep the oil hot enough (about 175 °C) so the dough absorbs less of it.
History
The name luqaimat comes from luqma, Arabic for “a mouthful” or “bite”, and fried dough balls of this kind are found across the Arab world. In the Gulf states they are especially tied to Ramadan, when they are prepared at home for iftar and sold at stalls in the evenings.
Count it in one photo
Point your camera at the table — Me Nutrition recognises Luqaimat and every other dish, with calories and macros for each. Ate only half? Slide it.
Download on the App StoreSimilar dishes
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 →