Bamiyeh Recipe

Bamiyeh (بامیه) is a sweet pastry from Persian cuisine that Iranians cook along with Zoolbia in Ramadan commonly. The term Bamiyeh is a homonym with the word Bamieh which means okra. Bamiyeh is the sweet pastry which Turkish people call it Tulumba. It is a dough fried in oil and sweeten by unique syrups. It is a very traditional sweet of Iran, which they used to cook and serve it only in Ramadan. Nowadays, it is available at the confectionaries in different shapes and sizes all year. The origin of the food goes back to Levant city, where they prepared Ottoman cuisine’s desserts. It is clear that Iranians called this sweet Bamiyeh because it looked like orange okra.

Totally when we found a recipe that includes a dough fried in the proper amount of oil and syrup it is not difficult to guess that it is a Turkish dessert from Ottoman cuisine. Nevertheless, Iranian chefs have evaluated the recipe so much that now we can consider it a Persian sweet more than a Turkish dessert.

Different types of Bamiyeh:

The dough which they make Bamiyeh out of it is usually the same. However, the shapes that they form this dough makes a difference. Moreover, nowadays the Persian chefs try different methods of frying and cooking for this sweet pastry. Indeed, once the dough is prepared, you can shape it in any form. The typical way is using a funnel and a groovy bobbin. Then you cut the dough in finger length sizes. You can now find other types of Bamiyeh in a spiral shape, circles, and many other models.

Another thing that can cause a difference in Bmiyeh’s final taste is the different methods that Persian chefs use to fry the sweets. For example, it is a recent technique that they grill the dough on a barbecue and then float it into the syrup, which makes it more delicious. Or they may add different spices, such as saffron into the syrup that causes a different final taste.

Important Nutrition facts:

Usually, sweets and pastries have high calories. Bamiyeh is one of those sweets that has a super high calorie. 100 gr of Bamiyeh has about 282 kcal. However, since they cut them in tiny pieces while serving, that eliminates the adverse effect. It has 26.79 gr carbohydrates, 1.18 gr protein, and 20 gr fat which is considered high. Moreover, it has 2.90 mg vitamin E, 1.18 mg vitamin C, 1.14 mg vitamin B4, and some small amounts of other vitamins. Additionally, it contains 25.87 mg calcium, 43 mg phosphor, 2.86 mg magnesium, 18.12 mg potassium and 44 mg sodium. It also contains some other minerals in smaller amounts.

Vegetarian tips:

Commonly Persian cuisine’s sweets and pastries do not include plenty of animal-sourced ingredients, and as a vegan or vegetarian, you can easily exclude or replace those items. To cook a vegan Bamiyeh, you need to replace the eggs with a similar vegan ingredient and replace the butter with margarine or vegetable oil.

Serving style of Bamiyeh:

Iranians serve Bamiyeh, usually along with Zoolbia as a dessert or a sweet. Zoolbia and Bamiyeh are the fixed dishes of Ramdan tables in Iran. They often serve them in ritual ceremonies and religious parties. Like all types of Persian sweets, Persian black tea is the best companion for this sweet, too. To serve it they place the Zoolibias in a tray or other flat dish and then place the Bamiyehs around Zoolbias.you can serve it as an evening meal, or as brunch with tea.

What are the ingredients?

The main ingredient is flour, like many other pastries and sweets of Persian cuisine. Other components are water, eggs, butter, vanilla and sugar. These ingredients are enough to make the dough. You also need some other ingredients to make a syrup and sweeten the Bamiyehs with it. To make syrup, you need sugar, water, brewed saffron, lemon juice, and rosewater.

How to cook Bamiyeh?

To cook Bamiyeh, first start making the syrup. To do so, mix the water and sugar and wait until the sugar solves in the water. After about 10 minutes that the sugar wholly melted and solved in water add saffron, lemon juice, and rosewater to it and heat it until you make a pretty thick syrup. Then pour water and butter into a pot and heat until they boil. Add some flour and sugar to it and regularly batter to make an edible dough. Then add some of the syrup to the dough. After 10 minutes, take the pot off from the heat and add eggs and vanilla one by one. Then prepare a warm pot filled with oils and place the Bamiyehs in your favorite shapes inside it.

The easiest and common way is to pour the dough into the fennel and cut it as you extract the dough with about a finger length size. Then fry the Bamiyehs until they make a golden color. Then again place them in syrup.

Recipe:

This recipe is adequate to make about 18 regular Bamiyeh. The preparation time is 20 minutes, and the cooking time is 10 minutes.