Khanfaroosh

Khanfaroosh (خنفروش) is a small sweet from the Gulf region, made by cooking a dough containing eggs and sugar in oil. It is known in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and elsewhere, and it is flavored with aromatics such as cardamom, rose water and saffron. It is shaped like a small fried cake or a thick disc. The outside is golden brown, while the inside keeps the softness of an egg dough.

Luqaimat, another Gulf fried sweet, is known for its round pieces of dough topped with syrup. In khanfaroosh, by contrast, the flavor and aroma come from the dough itself, which contains eggs and sugar. Some methods do not soak it in syrup at all and serve it warm, straight from the fryer.

Khanfaroosh bought at a market in Qatar. It is a small round piece that can be held in the hand. Photo: GiveMeMollusks, 2025-08-01, Souq Waqif, Doha, Qatar. Original image / CC0. Reduced-size version from the hosting source, with no additional editing.

A Sweet Passed Down in Homes and Sweet Shops

Khanfaroosh is made not only in Bahrain but throughout the Gulf. In Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, it is also counted among the traditional sweet-making crafts. In Bahrain, it is also made at home in preparation for Ramadan. Small pieces of fried dough served while still warm suit both sweets eaten at home and sweets sold in shops.

Some pronunciations of the name are close to “hamfaroosh.” Its inventor and the year it was first made are unknown, and it also cannot be established that it came from another sweet with a similar-sounding name.

At a sweet shop in Ras Al Khaimah, a maker from the Philippines learned local sweet-making from the shop owner and turned khanfaroosh into the shop’s specialty. A 2018 report described how the maker keeps the recipe as a shop secret while sharing the work with relatives. Besides being passed down within families, the skills can also be passed on to people who work in shops.

A hotel in Dubai has also created a dish inspired by this sweet. According to reports from 2023–24, chef Christophe Devoille serves it as an almond-paste crepe combined with cheese, black sesame, saffron and local honey. This is not a direct reproduction of the small pieces fried at home. It is a restaurant creation that reworks the aromas and ingredients into a different texture.

Frying Egg Dough a Little at a Time

The dough is made by combining wheat flour, rice flour, sugar, eggs, water and other ingredients. The ratio of rice flour to wheat flour and the use of leavening agents vary. Because the dough contains a lot of liquid, some methods do not roll it out and cut it like bread. Instead, they put it into the oil a little at a time with a spoon or similar tool. When the pieces are turned and fried on both sides, they become round and thick, or spread out with thin edges.

In one example presented by a consumer cooperative in the United Arab Emirates, a dough of rice flour and wheat flour is left to rest and then poured by the spoonful into a frying pan coated with a little oil. Besides frying in plenty of oil, it can also be cooked in a lightly oiled pan.

The recipe (the proportions of ingredients and the method) published by the Bahraini flour company Bahrain Flour Mills adds semolina to self-raising wheat flour. Eggs and sugar are combined, water and rose water are added, and then the dry ingredients are mixed in, followed by cardamom. After resting covered for 30 minutes, the batter is put into the oil one spoonful at a time and fried until golden brown on both sides. This formulation makes the most of the aromas of rose water and cardamom.

A method using semolina also appears in the Gulf cookbook Traditional Dishes of Arabian Gulf, first published in 1996. A soft dough is made from semolina, eggs, cardamom and other ingredients, shaped into thick rounds and fried. In contrast, a home recipe that a school in Bahrain published in its 2021 Ramadan newsletter combines rice flour and wheat flour and uses eggs, rose water, cardamom and saffron. The dough rests for 30 minutes, is dropped from a spoon and is fried on both sides. Although the flour combinations and aromas differ, the basic method of frying small portions of egg dough is shared.

Bahraini khanfaroosh piled on a tray. The degree of browning and the shapes vary. Photo: Aysha Ali Alzayed, 2025-03-07, location unknown. Original image / CC BY-SA 4.0. Reduced-size version from the hosting source, with no additional editing.

Yellow Color and Combined Aromas

When saffron is added, its aroma and yellow color pass into the dough. Cardamom is ground and mixed in, and rose water is added as a liquid ingredient. A distinctive feature is that the aromatics are not just scattered on the surface but scent the inside of the dough. Because eggs also add color, a yellow cross-section alone does not prove that saffron has been used.

The flour company’s formulation uses rose water and cardamom, while the school newsletter also adds saffron. The choice of which aromas to combine also shows the range of home recipes.

Left: the step of dropping soft dough into oil. Right: the thickness of the small fried sweet. The diagram does not show the actual diameter, oil temperature or number of air bubbles in the cross-section. Schematic diagram, not to scale. Diagram: original illustration by Sweetlore.

Glossary