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A close up look at a bowl of zalabia balls.
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5 from 2 votes

Zalabia (Lugaimat) Recipe

Zalabia are fried donut holes very popular in the Middle East and known in Greece as Loukoumades. Simple dough balls fried to golden color and dunked in honey syrup.
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time45 mins
Rising Time:1 hr
Total Time2 hrs 15 mins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Egyptian, Greek, Middle East, Turkish
Diet: Halal
Servings: 45 donut holes
Calories: 61kcal
Author: Amira

Ingredients

For the simple syrup:

  • 2 cups granulated sugar 400g
  • 1 ¼ cup water
  • 2 Tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the dough:

  • 2 cups all purpose flour 240g
  • teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon dry yeast 10g
  • 1 Tablespoon dry milk 8g
  • 2 teaspoons corn starch 7g
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar 15g
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder 2g
  • 1 ⅓ cup warm water
  • Oil for frying.
  • crushed nuts optional for garnish

Instructions

Make the syrup

  • In a saucepan over medium heat, add the syrup ingredients and stir a couple of times with a spoon.
  • Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Take it off heat, set aside and let it cool down completely.

Make the Zalabia dough:

  • In a deep bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix with a spatula.
  • Gradually add warm water until you reach an elastic rubbery dough as shown in the pictures above.
  • Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a dark warm place for an hour to an hour and a half.
  • Pour about 1 ½ - 2 inches of oil in your frying pan and heat on medium.
  • Deflate the batter as we do not want it to be all bubbly.
  • Brush piping bag with oil then fill with some of the batter. Cut a small opening in it.
  • Dip your scissors in the oil and start piping around 1 inch of batter, cut with scissors.
  • The batter will start to form a round ball and float in oil.
  • Continue piping and cutting dough making sure you dip your scissors in oil between cuts
  • Keep flipping and turning the balls around so they fry evenly, also push them down in the oil to get golden color.
  • Take them out of the oil straight into the cooled syrup.
  • Toss them around in the syrup then take them out into a strainer to remove excess syrup.
  • Serve garnished with nuts.

Video

Notes

  • The recipe might take a little bit less or a little more water this depends on the flour so just gradually add water until you reach the consistency shown.
  • You can flavor the syrup with rose water or orange blossom water.
  • I like to reduce the heat a notch while piping the balls so they will not get golden quickly while I still piping others. Then when I am done with piping I raise the temperature again.
  • 1 to 1 ¼ inch is my preferred size, you can get bigger or smaller according to your preference.
  • Make sure to dip the scissors between cuts so the dough won't stick to it.
  • You will need to fry the dough in batches, cover the rest of the dough while working with a batch and make sure to deflate the remaining dough before refilling your bag.
  • The deeper the color, the crunchier they will be.
  • This recipe will make about 700-750g of Zalabia.
  • Make ahead:
    You can actually freeze zalabia so here is what I do. Fry the dough until they get pale yellow like the photo above. Take them out of the oil and spread on a single layer on a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Wait until they are completely cooled, place on a freezer bag. When ready to use, take them out and fry in hot oil then proceed with the recipe as is.
  • Variations:
    Using simple sugar syrup is the traditional way to serve Zalabia, but recently your can find Zalabia drizzled with any syrup you like, the most common is chocolate syrup or nutella. You can also roll the donuts in cinnamon sugar or dust with powdered sugar.
  • Storage:
    It is best to enjoy zalabia fresh but if you have leftover, place them on a container on your counter and reheat in the oven.

Nutrition

Calories: 61kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 13mg | Potassium: 10mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 2IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 1mg