Fried Mbesses / Mtekba (Algerian Semolina Sweet)

Fried Mbesses an Algerian semolina sweet. Similar to Makrout being fried and coated in honey/syrup. It differs by having no date paste or nut filling, therefore cheaper and easier to make. A lovely treat being rich, tender and sweet. The main ingredients of the dough are semolina and smen (clarified butter). Orange blossom water is the primary flavour of the sweet. As it is both an ingredient in the dough and honey/syrup. I make fried mbesses a bit thinner than the tadjine cooked variety. This is in order for the Mbesses to be cooked through in the time it takes for the exterior to turn a deep golden brown when frying. Being thinner also means they will soak up the honey/syrup faster. For convenience I normally use a store bought runny honey/syrup. Warmed through with a few tablespoons of orange blossom water. The Mbesses pictured, are from a time I tested soaking the sweets in an homemade syrup. I wasn’t happy with how the syrup turned out at first, It crystallised. However, I did manage to rescue it by adding more water and simmering again for x amount of minutes. Needless to say, the homemade syrup recipe requires a few tweaks before I share it here on the blog.