Ridged logs of choux pastry deep-fried until crisp and hollow, then soaked in cold sugar syrup, a beloved Egyptian Ramadan street sweet.
Balah el Sham, meaning dates of the Levant for its date-like shape, is a fixture of Egyptian Ramadan, sold by the bagful from sweet shops and street carts throughout the holy month. The choux dough is piped through a ridged nozzle and fried so it puffs hollow and crackly, then plunged into syrup; it is the crunchy, syrup-soaked counterpart to softer Ramadan sweets.
A craggy, deep-fried shell crackles and shatters to reveal an airy hollow center soaked with cool syrup. It is shatteringly crisp outside, syrupy-soft inside, and lightly perfumed with lemon.
The high water content of choux paste turns to steam in the hot oil, inflating each log into a hollow, crisp shell, much like a fried cream puff. Soaking the hot, porous pastry in cold syrup lets it drink up sweetness fast while the crust stays crunchy from the temperature contrast.
Variations
filled with cream after frying, dipped in chocolate, dusted with cinnamon, made into small round balls
On the Palate
Where Balah El Sham sits in the Egyptian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
8 steps · 20 min
- 110 min
Boil sugar, water and lemon juice into a syrup and chill it well.
- 24 min
Bring water, butter and a pinch of salt to a boil in a pan.
- 35 min
Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously into a smooth dough that pulls from the sides.
Watch outStir until the dough balls up and leaves a thin film on the pan bottom — that skin means the flour is cooked and the paste will puff.
- 46 min
Cool the dough slightly, then beat in the eggs one at a time until glossy.
- 58 min
Pipe short ridged logs through a star nozzle into moderately hot oil.
Watch outKeep the oil moderate — too hot and the shells brown before the insides set, staying doughy in the middle.
- 610 min
Fry slowly until deeply golden and crisp all the way through.
Watch outFry slowly to deep gold; pale logs are still raw inside and will collapse soft instead of staying hollow and crisp.
- 72 min
Drain the hot pastries briefly on paper.
- 83 min
Plunge them straight into the cold syrup, then lift out and serve.
Watch outDrop them into cold syrup while still piping hot — the temperature gap sucks in sweetness fast and keeps the crust from going soggy.
