Ancient Egyptian Zalabiya
Fritters as they are depicted in ancient Egyptian tombs
City/Region: Egypt
Time Period: 15th Century B.C.E.
Hatshepsut ruled as regent for, and then co-pharaoh with, her stepson, Thutmose III for twenty one years in the 15th century BCE. While she ruled, Egypt enjoyed a golden age as she opened trade routes, built monuments, and ensured that the economy thrived.
The inspiration for this recipe comes from the many paintings of food on temple walls in Egypt. One of these shows ball-shaped items piled up on a serving platter, which could be an ancient form of the modern dessert zalabiya.
Using ingredients available to ancient Egyptians around the time of Hatshepsut’s reign, I’ve made my interpretation of the food painted on the temple walls. They are delicious and full of wonderful cardamom flavor with a light crunch. I think they’re best served with a little honey for dipping.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup (85 g) honey
- 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) warm water, divided
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (14 g) dried yeast
- 4 cups (500 g) emmer flour or barley flour*
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- Fat for frying**
- Honey for serving, optional
*These were the most common in ancient Egypt, but you can also use modern flour.
**Ancient Egyptian options would include ghee or clarified butter, olive oil, or tallow. All of these can be a bit expensive, so you can also just use whatever oil with a high smoke point you’d like.
Instructions:
- In a small bowl, mix together a little of the honey with 1/2 cup (113 ml) of the warm water. Stir in the yeast and set it aside for about 5 to 10 minutes until it’s nice and foamy.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and cardamom.
- When the yeast is foamy, add it to the flour mixture along with the rest of the honey and warm water and mix. It’ll be a very wet dough, more like a stiff batter. Work it with your hands in the bowl, essentially kneading it even though it’s more liquidy than a regular bread dough, for 15 to 20 minutes, then cover it and leave it to rise for 90 minutes.
- After 90 minutes, the dough should be puffed up and a little stretchy. When it’s ready, heat at least 3 inches (8 cm) of fat or oil in a large pot to 325°F (165°C).
- When the oil is hot, it’s time to shape the dough, and this is a little tricky. Gather some dough in one hand, then squeeze some of it out between your index finger and thumb. Pinch the dough off with your index finger and thumb, and use a spoon to scoop it up and transfer it to the hot oil. You want the dough balls to be bite size, otherwise they won’t cook all the way through. You can see how to shape them in the video here. Fry them for about 2 to 3 minutes, turning them as they cook, until they’re a nice deep golden brown. Transfer the cooked zalabiya to a wire rack over some paper towels to drain.
- Serve them forth with honey, either drizzled on or for dipping, but don’t drizzle honey on until you’re ready to eat them, or they’ll get soggy.