Bamieh is an Iranian and middle eastern sweet treat which is kind of similar to churros. It’s deep fried choux pastry that gets a bath in saffron and rose water syrup.
They are crunchy on the outside, soft and squishy and syrupy on the inside and pair very well with a cup of black tea or Chai.
Persian Bamieh Recipe
Yields: about 40 bamieh
Ingredients:
For the saffron syrup:
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup rose water (you can find it in Persian or middle eastern stores)
- 1 tablespoon brewed saffron
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
For the Pastry:
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/8 cup (28 gr) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon saffron syrup (which we make)
- 1 egg at room temperature, lightly beaten
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions:
First we make the saffron syrup,
You know syrups, they are kind of sensitive! They just want to sit there and do their thing, and if you try to stir them often or move them around too much, they’ll crystallize!
After a lot of crystallized and burned messes, I realized it’s better to make syrups in a stainless steel pan. You can use non stick too but it’s a little tricky and make sure there aren’t any scratches or chipped parts in your pan or it’ll cause crystals.
Have a pastry brush ready too. It’s used to dissolve the tiny sugar granules sticking to the sides of the pan.
How to brew saffron:
In a mortar, add in about 1/8 or if you’re feeling generous 1/4 teaspoon of saffron. Ground the saffron and transfer it to a small bowl. Place an ice cube on top of the ground saffron and let it melt slowly. This method gives you a beautiful color.
If you don’t have time for the ice to melt, just add a tablespoon of boiling water instead, cover the bowl and let it brew slowly.
1. In an stainless steel pan, pour the sugar slowly in the center.
2. Then slowly pour in the water, starting from the outside of the pan and going into the center so it covers the sugar. Use a wooden spoon to gently stir it just a bit.
3. Let it slowly heat on medium until sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbling.
4. Add in half the lemon juice, rose water and brewed saffron.
5. Lower the heat and let it slowly simmer. Do not stir.
6. Now you can see that there are some sugar pieces sticking to the side of your pan. If they fall into the syrup, they’ll cause crystals. So we dip a pastry brush in the rest of the lemon juice and clean the sides of our pan. This way you dissolve the sugar granules into the mixture. Keep doing this every other minute. If you ran out of lemon juice, use cold water.
7. After 10-15 minutes, the syrup should be ready, we’re looking for a consistency like warm honey. To test, pour some on a plate (use a clean wooden spoon to take some out), refrigerate it for 2 minutes. Then rotate plate around, the syrup shouldn’t move around easily.
You can also take some between your thumb and index finger, when you separate your fingers it should look like this:
8. Slowly take the pan off the heat, be careful not to move it around too much. Set aside.
Making the Pastry:
1. Sift the flour in a bowl and have it ready to use.
2. In a medium saucepan, add water, butter and saffron syrup. Place it on medium heat and wait for it to come to a boil. Stir to make sure the butter is melted. The moment you see the bubbles and the mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat and add the flour all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon for a minute, until all the flour is incorporated.
3. Continue cooking and stirring on medium low to low heat for 8 minutes. This is an important step and crucial for the pastries to keep their shape while frying.
4. Transfer the dough to a large bowl, with a spoon press the dough to the sides of the bowl so that it cools down faster. You can also use a mixer on low to release some of the heat.
5. After about 5 minutes, we are ready to add the egg.
Turn on the mixer on low, (you can also use a wooden spoon to mix in the eggs, but it will take some elbow grease!) add in the egg, and mix until it’s fully incorporated. When the the dough is smooth, turn off the mixer.
6. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. (I used Wilton 4B)
7. In a saucepan pour vegetable oil until it’s about 1-2 inch deep. Don’t place the sauce pan on the stove yet we want the oil to be at room temperature when piping the pastries in it. Grab a pair of scissors, dip them into the oil. Pipe the pastry into the oil as long as you like, cut with the scissors. Pipe as many as you can fit into the pan but don’t overcrowd it. They need some room to expand.
8. Now place the pan on low heat. This is very important, we want to fry them slowly so that they’re cooked all the way. Also, if the oil is hot they will get cracks on the sides. After a few minutes you see that they puff up and come to the surface of the oil.
9. When you feel like they have some structure and not super doughy anymore, grab a spoon and gently push them into the oil so that they fry evenly.
10. As they become golden, move them around to make sure they’re frying all the way around.
11. In the meantime, check out the syrup. Sometimes if you have boiled it too much it gets stiff after cooling down so you can’t use it for covering the pastries. Or, it has cooled down too much and is not the best consistency for our pastries. In that case, place the pan with the syrup on low heat (we don’t want it to boil we’re just trying) to warm it up. Wait for a few minutes, if after warming up you see that it’s the consistency of warm honey, you’re good. But if not and it’s just too stiff, add a little bite of water to the pan and very gently with a clean wooden spoon stir it a couple of times, and warm it up. You should get the right consistency this way.
12. After about 20 to 30 minutes (even more depending on your store temperature, pan size or how many of them you had in the oil) the pastries will get a beautiful deep golden color. Now use a strainer or a slotted spoon to take them out and immediately transfer them to the syrup (syrup should be warm or room temperature, not hot). Move them around to make sure they’re cover in syrup then place them on a strainer to get the excess syrup out.
13. Decorate with ground pistachios, enjoy warm or cold. They are the perfect pair to a warm cup of tea!
Watch the video tutorial here ↓
