Tamriyeh
Levantine fried dessert
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tamriyeh (Arabic: تمرية) is a sweet made by enveloping a cream filling with filo dough then frying it, it is popular in Levantine cuisine and Egyptian cuisine.
Preparation
History
The exact origin of tamriyeh is disputed.[6][7][8]
German Orientalist Gustaf Dalman's 1935 Arbeit und Sitte in Palaestina ("Work and customs in Palestine") described a dessert called timriye made by boiling semolina and sugar, cutting the resulting pudding into squares, enveloping it with unleavened rolled out dough, then frying it in sesame oil.[9]
It is believed that tamriyeh spread from Nablus in the West Bank to Port Said in Egypt after the inhabitants of the Suez Canal where displaced during the 1967 Six-Day War.[10][11]
Etymology
The name tamriyeh means "made with dates", despite the fact that some versions of the dessert do not contain dates, the origin of this name is unknown.[12][6][7]
In Nablus, it may be called ṭamriyyah (طمرية) instead,[4][13][6] the origin of this name is disputed, some state its derived from the Arabic word for "cover" (tamara, طمر),[6][4] while others associate it with the city of Tamra, near Nablus.[13][8][10]
The name tamriyeh is also used to refer to date-filled sweets, like makrouta.[14]
Literary mentions of vendors selling fried sweet donuts called tamriyeh in Lebanon date back to at least 1956.[15]
Regional varieties
Semolina pudding-filled tamriyeh is popular in Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine.[8][3][16]
Lebanon
In Lebanon, kallaj is a similar related sweet to tamriyeh, it is traditionally made during Ramadan, and is made by frying parcels made of qishta-filled güllaç wafers.[17][18][19][20]
Egypt
Tamriyeh is also a staple of Port Said, Egypt,[21] it is thought to have appeared there in the 20th century.[22][11]
Syria
In Homs, Syria, tamriyeh is made with a date or qishta filling, or no filling at all, and is dripped in sugar syrup after being fried.[23][24]
Palestine
In Palestine, tamriyeh is heavility associated with the city of Nablus, where it is traditionally made with sesame oil during Ramadan or in winter or in the month of Sha'ban during family gatherings (Arabic: شعبونية). It is popular as a breakfast item.[25][1][13][26][6] The Nabulsi variety of tamriyeh spread to Jordan and Lebanon by immigration.[19][16][8] As of 2022[update], there were at least 15 shops selling tamriyeh in Nablus, a number that has decreased over time.[13][27]
Culture
See also
- List of fried dough foods
- Znoud el-sit, Arab sweet of filo pastry filled with cream and fried
- Zalabiyeh, fried Arab sweet