Makroud

A brown date filling is packed inside a semolina casing. Makroud, which is cut into diamonds, cooked and soaked in syrup, is a specialty of Kairouan in Tunisia and a sweet that has also taken root in Algeria. The grainy casing and the fruit filling are made separately, wrapped together into a single log and then cut into pieces. The sweets called makroud vary in whether they are fried or baked, and in whether the filling is wrapped in semolina or the nuts themselves are made into the dough.

A name meaning “something cut” and a medieval sweet

French uses the spellings makroud and makrout, which derive from the Arabic مقروض. The root ق ر ض carries the meaning “to cut,” and maqrūḍ is the word form for “something that has been cut.” The entry for قرض in the classical dictionary Lisan al-Arab also lists senses meaning “to cut.” The sweet’s name is sometimes explained as meaning “diamond.” This explanation comes from the fact that cutting a log of dough diagonally produces diamond shapes, but what the root expresses is the action of cutting rather than the shape.

The Usito dictionary of the Université de Sherbrooke cites a French usage from 1852 that refers to the Maghreb. Much earlier, the name maqrud already appeared in the 13th-century cookbook of Ibn Razin al-Tujibi.

In the medieval makroud recreated by the culinary historian Daniel Newman, semolina dough is filled with sugar and almonds, or with dates, then fried in oil and sprinkled with sugar. Wrapping a filling and then cutting the log is similar, but the finish differs from today’s method of soaking the pieces in syrup. Some theories trace its origins not only to Kairouan but also to southeastern Algeria and the M’zab, and the sweet cannot be pinned to a single place of origin.

From the order of adding fat and water to shaping and cooking

In one recette (recipe: the proportions of ingredients and the method) for the date-filled version, medium-grain semolina is mixed with a small amount of wheat flour and clarified butter and left to stand for 2 hours or more. Warm water and orange blossom water are then worked in with the fingertips, and the dough is brought together without heavy kneading. The fat is worked into the grains first, and only then is the water needed for shaping added.

The date filling is kneaded separately and combined with cinnamon, cloves, clarified butter and blossom water. A groove is made along the log of dough, the filling is rolled into a long strip, laid in the groove and enclosed, and the log is evened out in thickness before being cut on the diagonal. A pattern from a wooden mold is sometimes pressed onto the surface. Because the fruit filling is wrapped in a thick casing, the thickness of the dough and of the filling, set before cutting, determines the ratio between the two in the cross-section.

When the pieces are fried, the surface takes on color in the oil. When they are baked in the oven, they are placed close together so that the dates showing at the cut edges do not burn. In some methods, the cooled pieces are dipped on both sides into a mixture of honey, blossom water and lemon, rested once, and then dipped again. Soaking in syrup gives the surface a sheen and adds sweetness and moisture to the dry casing.

Makroud made by the chef of the Tunisian Embassy

In the method demonstrated by Bahadur Chetri, chef at the Tunisian Embassy, wheat flour is mixed into the semolina, combined with olive oil, a little butter, salt and hot water, and the dough is left to rest. Cinnamon, sesame seeds and olive oil are worked into the date filling. The filling is wrapped inside a groove in a log of dough, which is flattened, cut into diamonds, fried, soaked in syrup and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

What distinguishes this cook’s version is the use of wheat flour as well as semolina, and of sesame both inside the filling and as a finish. Even when the basic structure of frying and then soaking in syrup is shared, the combination of flours and the aromas of the filling differ from cook to cook.

Different ingredients and methods in Kairouan and Algeria

Makroud from Kairouan is made with semolina, olive oil, honey and dates from the southern oases. It pairs a semolina casing with fruit that keeps well.

Makroud el koucha, handed down in Constantine and elsewhere in eastern Algeria, is baked in the oven. Besides dates, figs and almonds are also used as fillings. Makrout el louz, by contrast, is structured differently from a semolina sweet with an almond filling.

In the el louz published by Mercotte, the dough is made from almond flour, sugar, eggs and citrus zest; it is cut into diamonds, baked lightly, and coated white with sugar syrup and powdered sugar. There is no flour casing surrounding a filling; the almond dough itself is shaped and baked.

In the medina of Kairouan, pastry shops can be seen weighing out the sweets and selling them by weight. A 2019 purchase record from the local travel company TRAVELSUN notes that the figures displayed at the shop showed the price per 1 kg, and describes buying a box filled to the brim with makroud. The box was decorated with the minaret of the town’s Great Mosque. The small diamond-shaped sweets are not only for festive family tables; they are also carried home in boxes decorated with the town’s landmarks.

A family method of sandwiching the filling between dough, and the table after a fast

In the makroud made by Léa Karsenty’s grandmother, the semolina is first toasted dry. A filling of dates and hazelnuts is sandwiched between two sheets of rolled-out dough, one above and one below, then cut into diamonds, fried, and dipped in a syrup of honey and orange blossom water.

In this household, makroud was served at the table when the Yom Kippur fast in Judaism was broken. Unlike the method of enclosing the filling in a groove along a log, the filling containing nuts is spread in a single layer between an upper and a lower sheet of casing. It shares the syrup-soaked diamond shape, but this household has passed down its own procedure and the custom of serving it at the end of the fast.

Maltese imqaret, wrapped in thin wheat-flour pastry

Malta’s imqaret also wraps dates and is cut diagonally and fried. In the method passed down in Australia by a family from Malta, a thin pastry is made with wheat flour, a little margarine, water and blossom water. The dates are cooked with citrus peel, cinnamon, anise-type spices and other flavorings, cooled, and then rolled up in pastry rolled out to about 2 mm.

Imqaret fried to a golden color can be eaten warm or cooled. Whereas the makroud casing is thick and contains grains of semolina, the imqaret casing is a thin dough made from wheat flour. The cross-sections may look similar, but the casings that wrap the date filling are different.

Glossary