Lokma is a dessert made of leavened and Deep frying dough balls, soaked in syrup or honey, sometimes coated with cinnamon or other ingredients. The dish was described as early as the 13th century by al-Baghdadi as luqmat al-qādi (لُقْمَةُ ٱلْقَاضِيِ), "judge's morsels".[Charles Perry, A Baghdad Cookery Book, 2006. .]
Etymology
The
Arabic word (لُقْمَةٌ) (plural ), means
morsel,
mouthful, or
bite.
The dish was known as (لُقْمَةُ ٱلْقَاضِيِ) or "judge's morsels" in 13th-century Arabic cookery books,
and the word
luqma or
loqma by itself has come to refer to it.
The
Turkish language name for the dish, lokma, is derived from the Arabic,
as is the Greek name (λουκουμάδες).
History
The recipe for
luqmat al-qadi, yeast-leavened dough boiled in oil and doused in honey or sugar syrup with
rosewater, dates back to at least the early
medieval period and the 13th-century Abbasid Caliphate, where it is mentioned in several known cookery books of the time. It is also mentioned in the
One Thousand and One Nights, in the story
The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad.
The explorer and scholar
Ibn Battuta in the 14th century encountered the dish he knew as
luqaymat al-qadi at a dinner in
Multan (modern-day Pakistan) during his travels in
medieval India, where his hosts called it
al-hashimi.
According to food historian Gil Marks, Arab and Turkish empires spread lokma from the middle east in the Maghreb, Balkans, and India.
Preparation
The thick and smooth yeast batter rises and has a very soft and foamy consistency. The batter is usually dropped into hot oil and fried to a golden brown color, but some are doughnut-shaped. Lokma are served with honey and, occasionally, cinnamon.
Traditionally, the batter was leavened with yeast but modern variations sometimes use baking powder.
Regional varieties
Arab countries
Today, in
Iraq, it is called
lokma or
luqaymat (diminutive plural of
luqma lit. 'small bites'), and they differ both in size and taste across the country. While in Arab countries of the Persian Gulf,
lugaimat, sometimes spiced with cardamom or saffron, are little changed from the 13th-century recipes,
in parts of the Middle East they may also be called
' (عوامة), meaning "floater", or ' (زلابيا), with numerous spelling variations, though the latter term may also refer to a
zalabiya made in a long spiral or straight baton shape.
They are traditionally included in times of religious observances; for example in the
Levant by Muslims at
Ramadan, Jews at
Hanukkah, and Christians at Epiphany alike.
Cyprus
The pastry is called (λουκουμάδες) and (λοκμάδες) in
Cypriot Greek. They are commonly served spiced with cinnamon in a honey syrup and can be sprinkled lightly with powdered sugar.
Greece
The dish called (λουκουμάδες) is a mainstay of Greek cooking, in particular in the south of Greece, and is a popular street food served with any combination of honey, cinnamon, walnuts and chocolate sauce.
There is evidence that loukoumades originated from "enkrides", a dough fried in oil and enjoyed with honey in Ancient Greece.
References to deep fried donuts soaked in honey syrup, called "enkrides" (Greek: ἐγκρίς, plural ἐγκρίδες), are found in several Ancient Greek texts including works by Archestratus, Aeschylus, Stesichorus, Epicharmus, Nikophon, Aristophanes and Pherecrates.
Loukoumades have also been likened to "charisioi" (Ancient Greek: χᾰρῑ́σῐοι) .
In the Byzantine period, enkrides, or loukoumades, were popular during Lent. As a sweet treat made with only flour, yeast and water, and sweetened with honey, they met the requirements of Orthodox fasting and were also popular in monasteries.
This term was also used by the Romaniotes (Greek Jews) as the name for loukoumades,
Pontic Greeks who migrated from the Black Sea as a result of the Lausanne Conference call them tsirichta (τσιριχτά).
Turkey
There are different types of lokma in Turkey. Dessert lokma are made with flour, sugar, yeast and salt, fried in oil and later bathed in syrup or honey. In some regions of Turkey lokma are eaten with cheese, similar to breakfast
.
[Geleneksel hayır lokması Nedir? hayır lokması] are doughnut-shaped with a hole in the middle. The spherical one is called the palace lokma (Turkish:
Saray lokması). In the Güdül-Ayaş regions of
Ankara, there is a type of lokma known as
bırtlak.
[Pouring Lokma dessert for charity]
Traditionally, forty days after someone dies, close relatives and friends of the deceased cook large quantities of lokma for neighbours and passersby. People form queues to get a plate and recite a prayer for the soul of the deceased after eating the lokma.
See also
Further reading
-
A.D. Alderson and Fahir İz, The Concise Oxford Turkish Dictionary, 1959.
-
Γ. Μπαμπινιώτης (Babiniotis), Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens, 1998
