Emirati Luqaimat Recipe
Luqaimat is a traditional Middle Eastern dessert, especially popular in Dubai and the Gulf. These golden, crispy dough balls drizzled with date syrup or honey are popular during Ramadan and known for their delightful crispiness and sweetness.
Equipment
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 whisk
- 1 pan for deep frying
- 1 lugaimat machine (or make you're own with a plastic bottle above)
- 1 spoon (for putting the mixture into the machine)
Ingredients
- 300 g corn flour (corn starch)
- 130 g milk powder
- 500 ml warm water
- 2 tsp yeast
- 6-8 cardamom pods ground up or cardamom powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- oil of choice (for deep frying)
Toppings
- date syrup (to drizzle over)
- sesame seeds (to sprinkle over)
Instructions
Making the dough
- Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl
- Sieve in the milk powder
- Add the yeast, ground caradmom, sugar and pinch of salt
- Give all the dry ingredients a mix
- Slowly add the warm water while stirring
- Keep mixing until it's all combined
- Cover and leave it to rise for 1 hour
Frying the lugauimat
- Heat the oil on medium-high
- Once hot, turn it down to medium
- Spoon the mixture into the lugaimat machine
- Drop the 3 cm balls (1 inch) into the hot oil
- As they turn golden brown, flip them to cook both sides
- Once fully golden brown, remove them with a strainer from the oil
- Repeat until all the dough is used
- Place in a bowl and drizzle in date syrup
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds
Notes
They're best enjoyed fresh, so make sure to eat them right away!