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Sawabe' Zeinab
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Sawabe' Zeinab

Fried semolina fingers in syrup

Named 'Zeinab's fingers', these little fried sweets turn up on Egyptian Ramadan tables next to balah el sham, and they are easy to make in a home kitchen with a cheese grater for the ridges. A soft semolina and ghee dough is rolled into fingers, fried crisp and soaked in syrup, giving them a crunchy shell and a dense, slightly grainy, buttery middle. Serve them cool with tea or coffee after iftar. The key to a crisp finish is temperature contrast: hot fingers into cold syrup. If both are hot, they go soggy. Avoid dipping hot fingers into hot syrup; one of the two must be cool, or the fingers turn soggy instead of crisp. Chef's tip: rolling each piece over the back of a fine grater makes deep grooves that hold more syrup.

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