Lokma
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| Alternative names | Loukoumades, Loukmades, Luqmat, Bamiyeh, Zalabyieh |
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| Type | Fried dough |
| Place of origin | Ottoman Empire |
| Main ingredients | Dough |
| Variations | Sugar syrup, honey, cinnamon, chocolate syrup |
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Lokma (Turkish), loukoumades (Greek), loukmades (Cypriot Greek: λουκουμάδες, singular λουκουμάς, loukoumas), zalabyieh (Arabic: زلابية), or bāmiyeh (Persian: بامیه)—see etymology below—are pastries made of deep fried dough soaked in syrup, chocolate sauce or honey, with cinnamon and sometimes sprinkled with sesame or grated walnuts.
The Turkish word lokma means 'mouthful' or 'morsel', from Arabic لقمة luqma(t).
Turkey
Boortsog, called pişi or tuzlu lokma (sour lokma) in Turkish, which is Lokma without any sweet syrup or honey, is a staple food for Turkic and Mongolian cuisines. Lokma in the form of a dessert is made with flour, sugar, yeast and salt, fried in oil and later bathed in syrup or honey. Lokma is first described as part of Turkish cuisine in the 9th century Kara-Khanid Khanate. It was cooked by palace cooks in the Ottoman Empire for centuries and spread to the cuisines of the former countries of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, Middle East and the Caucasus. While in the former Ottoman countries such as Iraq and Greece it is an ordinary dessert, it has a ceremonial meaning in Turkey and is generally not consumed as an everyday dessert. Traditionally 40 days after someone passes away, close relatives and/or friends of the deceased cook Lokma in large quantities and serve to neighbours and passersby. People form queues to get a plate and recite a prayer for the soul of the deceased in return after eating the Lokma.
Greece and Cyprus
Lokma in Greece and Cyprus, called loukoumades, are commonly spiced with cinnamon in a honey syrup and can be sprinkled lightly with powdered sugar. While some claim that Lokma is a traditional Greek dessert with roots in deep antiquity, disagreement exists over the likelihood of the claim and which historical Greek honey-cake is the supposed ancestor of the modern lokma, whose present name is borrowed from Turkish. The candidate most frequently mentioned as being prepared with hot oil is enkrides, which is described below along with other postulated ancestral honey-cakes. Lokum is called sfingi (σφίνγοι) by the Greek Jews, who make them as Hanukkah treats. The tradition is claimed to have been originated by the Romaniotes.
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Wikipedia