Loukoumas
Encyclopedia
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
:لقمة القاضي, Persian: بامیه bamieh, see etymology below) are a kind of fried-dough
Fried dough foods
Many cultures have dishes made by deep frying dough of one form or another. Doughnuts are a type of fried dough food that is covered separately in article "List of doughnut varieties".- Asia :*Central Asia**Boortsog...
pastry
Pastry
Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...
made of deep fried
Deep frying
Deep frying is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot oil or fat. This is normally performed with a deep fryer or chip pan; industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum fryer may be used....
dough
Dough
Dough is a paste made out of any cereals or leguminous crops by mixing flour with a small amount of water and/or other liquid. This process is a precursor to making a wide variety of foodstuffs, particularly breads and bread-based items , flatbreads, noodles, pastry, and similar items)...
soaked in sugar syrup
Syrup
In cooking, a syrup is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars but showing little tendency to deposit crystals...
or honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
and cinnamon
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...
, and sometimes sprinkled with sesame
Sesame
Sesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds, which grow in pods....
.
Regional varieties
In GreeceGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, loukoumades are commonly spiced with cinnamon in a honey syrup and can be sprinkled lightly with powdered sugar.
This pastry is called zvingoi by the Greek Jews, who make them as Hanukkah
Hanukkah
Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
treats. It is claimed to have been originated by the Romaniotes
Romaniotes
The Romaniotes or Romaniots are a Jewish population who have lived in the territory of today's Greece and neighboring areas with large Greek populations for more than 2,000 years. Their languages were Yevanic, a Greek dialect, and Greek. They derived their name from the old name for the people...
, though the name derives from medieval German swinge. A similar dish is also found in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
as sfingi di San Giuseppe
Zeppole
A zeppola or St. Joseph's Day cake, also called sfinge, and in Rome Bignè di S. Giuseppe, is a pastry typical of Roman, Neapolitan and generally peninsular Italian cuisine...
.
Various other kinds of fried dough with syrup
Fried dough foods
Many cultures have dishes made by deep frying dough of one form or another. Doughnuts are a type of fried dough food that is covered separately in article "List of doughnut varieties".- Asia :*Central Asia**Boortsog...
are found in the Mediterranean, Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, and South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, from the Italian
Italian cuisine
Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab cuisines...
struffoli
Struffoli
Struffoli is a Neapolitan dish made of deep fried balls of dough about the size of marbles. Struffoli are crunchy on the outside and light inside. They are mixed with honey and other sweet things...
(the most similar to loukoumades in preparation) and zeppole
Zeppole
A zeppola or St. Joseph's Day cake, also called sfinge, and in Rome Bignè di S. Giuseppe, is a pastry typical of Roman, Neapolitan and generally peninsular Italian cuisine...
(more like an American cake doughnut) to the Indian
Indian cuisine
Indian cuisine consists of thousands of regional cuisines which date back thousands of years. The dishes of India are characterised by the extensive use of various Indian spices, herbs, vegetables and fruit. Indian cuisine is also known for the widespread practice of vegetarianism in Indian society...
jalebi
Jalebi
-Further reading:*Epicure's Delectable Desserts of the World By Asha Khatau ISBN 81-7991-119-5...
and gulab jamun
Gulab jamun
Gulab jamun is a popular dessert in countries of the Indian Subcontinent such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. It is made of a dough consisting mainly of milk solids, traditionally, khoya, an Indian milk product is rolled into a ball together with some flour and then deep fried...
.
Etymology
The Turkish word lokma means 'mouthful' or 'morsel', from ArabicArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
لقمة luqma(t). A version called لقمة القاضي luqmat al-qadi (judge's mouthful) was described by al-Baghdadi
Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi
', usually called al-Baghdadi was the compiler of an early Arabic language cookbook of the Abbasid period, كتاب الطبيخ , written in 1226....
in the 13th century and is made in Arab countries to this day.
See also
- TulumbaTulumbaTulumba , meaning pump) is a dessert in the Turkish, the Greek and the Bulgarian cuisine consisting of fried batter soaked in syrup.It is made from unleavened dough lump given a small ovoid shape with ridges along it using an 'icing' bag with a special nozzle. It is first deep-fried to golden...
- Gulab jamunGulab jamunGulab jamun is a popular dessert in countries of the Indian Subcontinent such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. It is made of a dough consisting mainly of milk solids, traditionally, khoya, an Indian milk product is rolled into a ball together with some flour and then deep fried...
- JalebiJalebi-Further reading:*Epicure's Delectable Desserts of the World By Asha Khatau ISBN 81-7991-119-5...
- Puff Puff
- ChurroChurroA churro, sometimes referred to as a Spanish doughnut, is a fried-dough pastry-based snack that has disputed origins. Churros are also popular in Latin America, France, Portugal, Morocco, the United States, Australia, and Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands. There are two types of churros in Spain....
- BoortsogBoortsogBoortsog, boorsoq, or baursak is a type of fried dough found in the cuisines of Central Asia, Idel-Ural, and Mongolia, being an "authentic example" of Mongolian cuisine...
-Tuzlu lokma - LokumLokumLokum or Nokul is a type of puff pastry. Lokum is a type of pastry eaten in Turkey and Bulgaria with variations. Lokum is sometimes served hot as an appetizer instead of bread.It consists of a rolled sheet of yeast dough onto which a feta,walnut or poppy seed is sprinkled over a thin coat of butter...
Further reading
- A.D. Alderson and Fahir İz, The Concise Oxford Turkish Dictionary, 1959. ISBN 0-19-864109-5
- Γ. Μπαμπινιώτης (Babiniotis), Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens, 1998
- Oxford Companion to FoodOxford Companion to FoodThe Oxford Companion to Food is an encyclopedia about food. It was edited by Alan Davidson and published by Oxford University Press in 1999. It was also issued in softcover under the name The Penguin Companion to Food...
, s.v. jalebi.