ZALABIA

ZALABIA

This authentic Egyptian sweet recipe is from a dear friend of mine. She made this for us when we went to her house for dinner. The taste of this dish was amazing yet it was very easy to make. I took these photographs as soon as I came home since I was sure that they wouldn’t last long in my house :) Here goes the recipe of the zalabias:

INGREDIENTS:
All purpose flour, 1 cup.
Active yeast, ¾ tablespoon.
Sugar, 1 cup.
Oil as needed for deep frying.

PREPARATION:
Take a cup full of warm water and dissolve the yeast in the water. The water should not be too hot or too cold, it should be just warm to touch and let it sit for a few minutes until the yeast rises. Take the flour in a big bowl and pour the yeast mixture into the flour and mix well. Add more water to the mixture and make a smooth batter out of the mixture (the batter should be of the same consistency of a bajji batter). Let it sit for another half an hour to make it rise. Meanwhile, dissolve the sugar in ½ to ¾ cup of water and keep aside. The syrup should be thick. This is sugar syrup for the zalabia. Once the batter has risen enough, heat around 1 to 1-1/2 cups of oil in a pot. Take spoonfuls of the batter and pour it over the hot oil and deep fry the zalabias until they turn into golden-brown color. Remove them from the oil and place them over a plate. Drain the excess oil with a paper towel and dip each one of them into the sugar syrup coating them evenly. Transfer the zalabias into another plate and serve.