Loukoumades - Cypriot Honey Doughnuts
INGREDIENTS
For the syrup:
1 cup honey
1/2 cup water
orange zest from one orange
1 cinnamon stick
5-6 cloves
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
For the dough:
200g plain flour
50g cornflour
300ml lukewarm water
4 teaspoon dried yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
about 1.5 litres of vegetable or canola for frying
crushed nuts for serving, I’ve chosen pistachios but go wild with your favourites
METHOD
1. Bring all the syrup ingredients to boil in a saucepan and simmer on a low heat for 4 minutes. Leave on the side too cool.
2. In the meantime, mix the flour, cornflour, water, honey, yeast and salt together in a large bowl, cover with cling film and allow it to rest and rise for at least 2 hours.
3. Once the dough has risen, heat the oil on medium heat in a deep pot. Your pot doesn’t need to be a large one but more so deep. It’s also important the oil isn’t too hot as you don’t want the exterior of your doughnut ball to cook before the inside of your dough has. No one wants to ear raw dough now.
4. Before you start frying, make sure you have a dish lined with paper towels to place the fried balls in, a steel wide skimmer (ladle with holes) and a small cup of oil with a teaspoon.
5. You can test if the oil is ready by placing a wooden skewer in - if it starts to gently sizzle, you’re good to go. To start frying, place your hand in the mixture and grab some of the dough and squeeze a small ball shape in-between your index finger and thumb. Scoop the dough with the teaspoon dipped in oil and drop it into the frying pan. The oily spoon will help the dough slip off easily keeping its shape.
6. Repeat until you have about 7-8 balls frying. Use the steel skimmer to mix and turn them continuously until their shape has formed and are pale gold.
7. Remove the half-cooked dough balls on to the dish lined with paper towels.
8. Repeat this process until you’ve used all of the dough mixture.
9. Allow the half-cooked loukoumades to cool before you refry them until golden brown and crispy. Remove them and immediately add them into the syrup. Because the loukoumades are warm, they’ll soak up the honey syrup.
11. Remove the loukoumades from the syrup, plate and serve with crushed nuts of your choice.
_
Today is the last day of #FEBulousCypriotFood and the end of the month. Holy moly where did this month go? Big thanks go to Eleni from @myfamilysfooddiary for bringing so many inspiring and passionate foodies together for a second year running. To mark the completion of this year’s campaign, I’m sharing my loukoumades recipe with you. It’s one I’ve tried to finesse for a little while. They’re super crunchy after frying them twice and soaked with a (sugar-free) honey syrup. That’s right, I said sugar-free. Same goes for the dough. I’m a bit of a sugar foe, even though I’m a huge chocolate devotee, I do try to limit sugar in my cooking as much as I can. If you give it a go, please share them with me on Instagram @nikolettaskitchen. It’s always so gratifying seeing your recipe remakes. Save it, make it, share it.
