Makroud

Ingredients

• Semolina — medium grain600 g
• Olive oil180 ml
• Warm water180 ml
• Dates — pitted500 g
• Ground cinnamon2 tsp
• Orange zest1
• Orange blossom water40 ml
• Honey500 g
• Oil for frying700 ml
• Salt1 pinch

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Rub the semolina with the olive oil and salt by hand until it is damp all through.

   12 min

2. 2

   Leave the mixture half an hour so the grain takes up the oil and swells.

   32 min

3. 3

   Add the warm water with the orange blossom water a little at a time, gathering the dough without kneading.

   10 min

4. 4

   Steam the dates soft and pound them with the cinnamon and zest into a smooth paste.

   20 min

5. 5

   Roll the dough into a strip, lay a rope of date paste down the centre and close the edges over it.

   20 min

6. 6

   Press the strip flat and cut it on the diagonal into four-centimetre diamonds.

   12 min

7. 7

   Deep-fry at 170 °C until golden and drop them hot into cold honey for five minutes.

   35 min

About the dish

The semolina dough is not kneaded but rubbed with oil and left half an hour to swell. Kneaded it turns dense, and what is wanted is short.

Hot makroud goes into cold honey. The difference in temperature draws the syrup inside; into hot honey it does not work.

The dates are steamed soft and worked with cinnamon and zest. A dry filling crumbles out through the dough in the fryer and the oil foams.

Worth knowing

• — Do not knead the dough at all. Every extra movement develops gluten and the makroud turns hard instead of short.
• — Let the honey down with a spoon of water if it is thick. Too dense it never soaks in and stays a sticky layer outside.
• — Lift the diamonds out of the honey onto a rack. On a plate they glue together into one slab.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

420 kcal

Protein

5 g

Fat

16 g

Carbs

66 g

More from Algeria

• Algerian couscous — Semolina steamed three times over a pot of meat and vegetables, with the broth served apart.
• Chorba frik — A soup of freekeh, the smoked green wheat, with lamb and mint. The first thing on the table in Ramadan.
• Rechta — Algerian handmade noodles steamed over broth and dressed with a white chicken sauce.