Al Salooq - Traditional Arab Cardamom Pastries (Deep Fried)

Ingredients

• 4 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1/2 cup ghee (or melted butter or sunflower oil)
• 1/2 cup skim milk (boiled, then cooled)
• sunflower oil, for deep frying
• confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. 1

   Sift the flour, baking powder & ground cardamom into a fairly large mixing bowl.

2. 2

   Add the melted ghee / butter / oil & using a wooden spoon, mix it into the flour intil you have a crumbly mixture. Slowly add the milk & mix until you have a soft dough. Knead the dough until it is smooth.

3. 3

   Take walnut sized pieces of the dough & with lightly floured hands, roll them into fat sausages & then shape them into moons - you can also form them into slightly flattened rounds & then push your thumb upwards in the centre to make the moon shapes.

4. 4

   Heat enough of the sunflower oil for deep frying & fry the cresecent moons in batches until they are a golden brown colour.

5. 5

   Drain well on paper towels & toss them in confectioners sugar. Just before serving, I like to give them another light dusting of sugar (using a sieve for even coverage).