Balah El Sham is a super delicious fried dough soaked in heavy sugar syrup. They are incredibly crunchy on the outside and SO soft and fluffy on the inside.
Make the syrup: In a saucepan, add sugar, water, lemon juice and glucose syrup over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and let the mixture simmer for 8-10 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it cool down.
½ cup water, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoon glucose syrup, 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Make the dough: In a pot or large saucepan, mix butter and water over medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil.Sift flour and salt.
1.25 cups water, ½ cup unsalted butter, ¼ teaspoon salt
Add the sifted flour to the water mixture, stir vigorously for 1 minute until the mixture comes together in one big ball.
2 cups all purpose flour
Then, turn off the heat and let it cool down for 5-10 minutes. Next, add vanilla extract and the eggs (one by one) until the dough is soft. Add the dough to a piping bag with a large star nozzle.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or, 5 large eggs
Pour about 1-1 ½ inches of oil into a large pot or saucepan and pipe (about 2-3 inches) of the dough. Use kitchen scissors to cut the dough in the oil while it is at room temperature, then put it over MEDIUM heat.
4 cups Vegetable oil, for deep frying
Fry until golden brown (about 1-2 minutes). Drain on a paper towel.
While still hot, dip Balah El Sham in the syrup for 2-3 minutes, then take it out of the syrup with a slotted spoon.
Arrange one serving plate, then sprinkle some pistachio on the top.
Notes
Before you fry the second batch of the pastry, I recommend letting the oil cool down as the dough fries better on low heat. Also, the longer you leave them frying, the crunchier your dough will be.