Chebakia

Ingredients

• 500 g plain flour
• 200 g sesame seeds
• 1 tsp aniseed, ground
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• Large pinch saffron threads
• 1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 100 g butter, melted
• 60 ml olive oil
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 3 tbsp orange blossom water
• About 120 ml warm water
• 1 litre sunflower oil, for frying
• 700 g honey
• 2 tbsp orange blossom water, for the syrup

Before you cook

• Toast 150 g of the sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat for 5 minutes, until golden, then cool them and grind them to a coarse paste.
• Toast the remaining 50 g of sesame seeds and set them aside for sprinkling.
• Crumble the saffron into 2 tablespoons of warm water and leave it to steep.

Steps

1. Put the flour, ground sesame paste, aniseed, cinnamon, turmeric, yeast and salt into a large bowl and mix them together.
2. Pour in the melted butter, olive oil, egg, vinegar, orange blossom water and saffron water.
3. Rub everything together with your fingertips until it looks like damp sand.
4. Add the warm water a spoonful at a time, mixing until a stiff dough comes together.
5. Knead the dough on the work surface for 10 minutes, until smooth and no longer sticky.
6. Cover the dough and rest it for 30 minutes.
7. Roll a quarter of the dough out as thinly as you can, to about 2 millimetres.
8. Cut the sheet into rectangles roughly 7 centimetres by 5 centimetres.
9. Cut four parallel slits down the middle of each rectangle, leaving both ends joined.
10. Thread your finger through alternate strips, then pinch the two far corners together to twist the piece into a rose.
11. Set the shaped pastries on a floured tray and repeat with the remaining dough.
12. Warm the honey with the orange blossom water in a wide pan over low heat until it is runny and just steaming, then keep it warm.
13. Heat the frying oil in a deep pan to 165C.
14. Fry the pastries six at a time for about 5 minutes, turning once, until deep amber.
15. Lift them straight from the oil into the warm honey.
16. Leave them to soak for 5 minutes, pressing them under the surface with a spoon.
17. Lift each one out with a slotted spoon and let the excess honey drip back into the pan.
18. Sprinkle the reserved toasted sesame seeds over the sticky pastries straight away.
19. Spread them on a rack and leave them for at least 1 hour to set before storing them in a tin.