Fazuelos, also known as fijuelas, hiuelas, deblas, and hojuelas are pastries of thin fried
dough
Dough is a malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from flour (which itself is made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops). Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes ...
. A type of rolled pastry, their origins trace back to Spain, with references dating back to the late Spanish Middle Ages.
Sephardic tradition
In
Sephardic
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
tradition these pastries, reminiscent of
Esther's meguillah due to their characteristic rolled form which recall the shape of
Haman
Haman ( ; also known as Haman the Agagite) is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was an official in the court of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian empire under King Ahasuerus#Book of Esther, Ahasuerus, comm ...
's ears, hold cultural significance, particularly during the celebration of
Purim
Purim (; , ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jews, Jewish people from Genocide, annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman, as it is recounted in the Book of Esther (u ...
.
[Claudia Roden, (2006), ''The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand and Vilna to the Present Day'', Penguin Books, p. 592]
Historically, fazuelos were mentioned in literature, notably in
Francisco Delicado's
''La Lozana Andaluza'', where a Jewish woman named Aldonza reminisces about preparing the pastry while living in
Andalusia
Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...
, fleeing persecution from the
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition () was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and lasted until 1834. It began toward the end of ...
. Fazuelos are also made by non-Jewish communities, especially during the Christian festival of
Semana Santa (Holy Week), which coincides closely with Purim. This cross-cultural adoption of the pastry is evidenced by its inclusion in some Christian Spanish cookbooks as early as 1599.
Tunisia
Oudnin el kadhi or wdinet el cadi (آذان القاضي "Judge's ears"
in
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
) are a type of pastry commonly found in
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
.
Preparation
Writing for ''
Tablet Magazine'', food historian and renowned authority on Sephardic cuisine
Hélène Jawhara Piñer provides a recipe. Comprising flour, eggs, sugar, and oil, the dough is rolled thinly, cut into strips, and briefly fried. A syrup of water, orange blossom, and sugar is then prepared for additional flavor. The fazuelos are then garnished with sesame seeds or icing sugar.
add
brandy
Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...
to the dough and
Moroccan Jews
Moroccan Jews (; ; ) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman Empire, Roman times. Jews began immigrating to the region as early as 70 CE. They were much later met by a second wave o ...
eat them with cinnamon and syrup. They are similar to
Andalusian Pestiños, but the latter are eaten with honey.
In Tunisia,
flour
Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...
,
egg
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...
s, oil,
orange flower water,
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
and salt are mixed, and the resulting dough is rolled and cut into strips. These are then dipped in hot oil and rolled around a fork. After draining, they are coated in honey or syrup or sprinkled with
powdered sugar.
Sesame
Sesame (; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a plant in the genus '' Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for ...
seeds are sometimes used as topping.
See also
*
Sephardi Jewish cuisine
References
Sephardi Jewish cuisine
Purim foods
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