Sfenj
bakery Product
Sfenj (from the Arabic word Arabic: سفنج, romanized: Safanj, meaning sponge) is a Maghrebi doughnut: a light, spongy ring of dough fried in oil. Sfenj is eaten plain, sprinkled with sugar, or soaked in honey. It is a well-known dish in the Maghreb and is traditionally made and sold early in the morning for breakfast or in the late afternoon accompanied by tea—usually Maghrebi mint tea—or coffee.
The term Sfenj is used in Algeria and other parts of the Maghreb. It is called Sfenz in Libya and Maghrebi Judeo-Arabic dialects. In Morocco, the term Sfenj is used, also sometimes nicknamed in the literature Moroccan doughnuts. It is also called Khfaf or ftayr in Algeria, and is sometimes also dubbed as the Algerian doughnut.
History
Sfenj originated in Al-Andalus (Moorish Spain). According to legend, Sfenj was created by mistake, when a baker accidentally dropped a ball of dough into a pan of hot oil. Sfenj was an important part of Andalusi culture, whose role was best summarised by a verse from a contemporary poet: "The Sfenj bakers are worth as much as kings" ("سفاجين تحسبهم ملوكا").
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This entry incorporates text from “Sfenj” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.