I’ve been raving about my dinner at Siraj, the Emirati restaurant with a contemporary twist located in Souk Al Bahar, Downtown Dubai. One of the decadent desserts I had the pleasure of tasting was their Luqaimat, a well loved Emirati delicacy of deep fried dumplings.

Crisp on the outside and dreamily soft inside, with the delicious flavours of cream, sugar and cardamom kicking in with every mouthful, these delicious plump little pillows truly are hard to resist – in fact why resist at all?

Best served hot and topped with date syrup and sesame seeds, Luqaimat would be the ideal treat to serve at your next Iftar. Chef Ahmad of Siraj restaurant has generously shared his prized recipe. Go on, give it a try and amaze your guests this Ramadan with something truly Emirati on the table!

Siraj’s Luqaimat Recipe

Cooking time: 70 minutes (including time for dough to rise)
Number of people: 10

1.     500 gms flour No. 1
2.     200 gms corn flour
3.     100 gms baking powder
4.     2 tspns yeast
5.     4 tbsp sugar
6.     Oil – to fry
7.     A pinch of saffron
8.     ½ tspn ground cardamom
9.     3 tbsp date syrup
10.  100 ml milk

Preparation

1.     Mix the flour, corn flour, baking powder and yeast
2.     Add sugar and crushed cardamom
3.     Heat the milk with oil and add saffron for color and flavor
4.     Mix everything together well and allow the dough to rise for half an hour
5.     Make tiny balls out of the dough and deep fry in oil at 160c
6.     When the dumplings are light brown, remove from oil and place it on kitchen paper

Serve hot with date syrup. Indulge!