Sfenj

What it is

Sfenj is a ring-shaped fritter made of water, salt, white flour and yeast and fried in oil.¹ Akdi and Achboun describe it like this: the dough is kneaded and left to ferment, then fried in oil as a ring with an empty centre until it puffs up like a sponge.²

It differs from the sweet, jam-filled doughnut, called bini in Darija, in its dough: the latter’s firm dough is rolled out and cut with a cutter.³

Where it comes from

According to Soumaya Naamane Guessous, the word comes from the Arabic isfanja, sponge; the pastry is said to come from al-Andalus.⁴

History

A document dated 15 Muharram 1307 of the Islamic calendar names sfenj, fekkas, krachel and m’hancha among the sweets of Tetouan.⁵

How it is made

The dough is prepared with baker’s yeast and must rise until it has tripled in volume; it is kneaded long and hard until it no longer sticks to the hands.⁶ The sfenj maker (safnaj), always a man, shapes the dough in the air between his fingers into a ring and slides it into boiling oil, where it puffs up and turns golden.⁷ Hassan Akdi and Noureddine Achboun list sfenj making among the crafts of Tetouan.⁸

How it is cooked

When

Sfenj is eaten with honey, jam or butter; in the souks people sit on mats under tents with it and drink mint tea.⁹ The fritters used to be threaded onto a strip of palm leaf or a string; today they go into kraft paper bags.¹⁰ During Ramadan the few sfenj makers still working stop production and sell chebakia instead.¹¹