Saturday, September 5, 2009

Fried Dates or Date Fritters

Dates are popular this time of the year, during the fasting month. There are different types in the market, some are rather hard and dry, others big and moist. Dates have a high source of iron.

Before the war, Iraq used to be the world's biggest producer of dates but these days, they don't even have enough for themselves let alone export them. Shortage of water is partly to be blamed for the low production as their rivers are drying up making the land unproductive.

I have eaten fried bananas, yams, sweet potatoes, tempura, even fried ice cream but reading about fried dates took me by surprise. Dates that are hard and dry taste better in fried form as they become softer and moist. Have you eaten fried dates? Here is a recipe from The Star if you'd like to try it.



Ingredients:

10 dates, seeded
Half cup flour
1 egg
A pinch of salt
Half cup water
Oil for shallow frying

Method

Make a batter with the flour, egg, salt and water, ensuring the consistency is not too thick.

Heat up the oil.

Dip the dates into the batter and fry.

Drain and serve.


Source: The Star

7 comments:

  1. Huh? It can be cooked this way? I didn't know that. Ha :D

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  2. Anonymous10:33 PM

    Yum! I think date fritters would be nice even though I have never tried them before.

    Thanks for sharing this recipe.

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  3. Interesting! Never knew dates can be eaten this way!

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  4. this is something interesting and new to me, but more of weird actually.. hahaha!! i think i still prefer to eat it just like that.. :p

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  5. Long ago, when I lived in California, there was a fruit stand in the desert where I used enjoy date milkshakes. Never heard of fried dates.

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  6. Tekkaus, I too was surprised. I've yet to try it this way though.

    You're welcome, Mei Teng.

    Foong, something like cempedak, eh?

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  7. SK, I too prefer to just eat the dates as they are. A former co-worker makes very nice cakes with dates.

    PandaB, date milkshakes must have been nice esp out on a hot day in the desert. The Chinese community makes (hot) drinks with dates too as well as include them in soups. They sweeten the soups and is believed to be good for the blood having a high iron content.

    Hi Baby, why not, eh? Thanks for stopping by.

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