You may have tried Loukoumades (Greek Honey Puffs) at your local Greek festival or paniyiri.
But did you know that it is also tradition to make loukoumades for babies when they get their first tooth?
Sia's little girl is 8 months old now and we are still waiting for her first tooth to pop out. It wont be long… she is definitely teething. Her teeth are giving her a lot of grief, the poor darling, and as a result she's having sleepless nights and chewing on EVERYTHING!
When she gets her first tooth, we will be making this recipe for loukoumades to celebrate 🙂
Loukomades Greek Honey Puffs
The recipe honours Thea Tsambika. She has been making loukomades for years at the Brisbane paniyiri as a volunteer. At events like this, when you need to make hundreds or thousands of loukoumades, there is usually a machine to help make the frying a lot faster.
However, if you are just cooking for your family at home, then loukoumades can be fryed in a pot or home fryer.
In this video, Thea Tsambika shows us how to make loukomades the traditional way using just her hands and a spoon.
On the day that we went to cook with Thea Tsambika, she invited all of her friends over to watch us make loukoumades. They wanted to know more about what this “Thermomix” machine could do…
We think about all the hours that these ladies have spent in the kitchen. It is a bit difficult to explain to them, how many hours we save by using our Thermomix.
This is one of the reasons why we want to continue converting our traditional, family recipes .
INGREDIENTS
BATTER
- 600g self raising flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 10g dry yeast
- 10g vinegar
- 650g water
SYRUP
- 400g sugar
- 600g water
- peel of ½ lemon
- 15g lemon juice
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 cloves
- 1 star anise
FRYING
- 1L canola oil
- Cup of water
SERVING
- icing sugar
- ground cinnamon
STEPS
- Add batter ingredients to bowl: self raising flour (600g), salt (½ tsp), yeast (10g), vinegar (10g) and water (650g). Mix for 1 minute/37 degrees/speed 4.
- Scrape down sides and mix again 10 seconds/speed 5.
- Pour the batter into a seperate bowl and cover with cling wrap. Put the bowl into a plastic bag to help the dough rise faster. Leave it to rise for about 30 minutes or until it doubles in size.
- While the dough is rising, clean and dry the mixing bowl. Make the syrup with: sugar (400g), water (600g), lemon peel (½), lemon juice (15g), cinnamon stick (1), cloves (2), star anise (1). Boil for 30 minutes/100 degrees/reverse/speed 1. Take off the lid and allow the syrup to cool.
- Heat the oil (aprox 1L) in a pot or fryer. Use hands to portion the dough. Wet the tablespoon in a cup of water before portioning each ball of dough. Fry the dough in hotcooking oil until it turns golden brown. Turn the balls regularly to ensure that they cook on all sides.
- Once the loukoumades are cooked, strain them and then put them into a bowl or on a plate. Coat them in the cold syrup and serve them with icing sugar and/or ground cinnamon dusted on top.
NOTES
- Try serving loukoumades with crushed walnuts, honey or chocolate sauce or chocolate icing on top.
- For a honey based sauce, try the Baklava syrup featured in the Easter Collection Ebook.
- Par cook the dough balls, allow them to cool and then freeze for later use. When needed, defrost the balls and fry them in oil until they turn golden brown.
- Try using lemonade or sparkling water instead of normal water in the batter to make them crispier. This tip was shared with us from one of our readers. Thanks so muchMargaret Koutzoumis Dunne for your feedback 🙂
More Photos
