 loukoumades (greek), lokma tatlÄ±sÄ± or simply lokma (turkish) or lokmades (cypriot) (, singular Î»Î¿ÏÎºÎ¿ÏÎ¼Î¬Ï loukoumas, luqmat al-qadi (arabic:ÙÙÙØ© Ø§ÙÙØ§Ø¶Ù, persian: Ø¨Ø§ÙÛÙ bÄmiyeh, see etymology below) are a pastry made of deep fried dough soaked in sugar syrup or honey and cinnamon and sometimes sprinkled with sesame. ==regional varieties== in greece, loukoumades are commonly spiced with cinnamon in a honey syrup and can be sprinkled lightly with powdered sugar. in ancient greece, these deep fried dough balls were served to the winners of the greek olympics. the greek poet callimachus was the first to state that these deep fried dough balls were soaked in honey and then served to the winners as "honey tokens". the pastry is called zvingoi by the greek jews, who make them as hanukkah treats. it is claimed to have been originated by the romaniotes, though the name derives from medieval german swinge.babiniotis a similar dish is also found in italy as sfingi di san giuseppe.  various other kinds of fried dough with syrup are found in the mediterranean, middle east, and south asia, from the italian struffoli (the most similar to loukoumades in preparation) and zeppole (more like an american cake doughnut) to the indian and pakistani jalebi and gulab jamun. perhaps the oldest documentation of a related but not identical dish is in the tomb of ramses iv, where something more like jalebi is shown being prepared. later, the ancient greek enchytoi consisted of a cheese-and-flour dough squeezed into hot fat, then covered with honey.eugenia ricotti, prina ricotti, meals and recipes from ancient greece, j. paul getty museum, 2007, isbn 0892368764, p. 108 ==etymology== the turkish word lokma means 'mouthful' or 'morsel', from arabic ÙÙÙØ© luqma(t).diran kÃ©lÃ©kian, dictionnaire turc-franÃ§ais (ottoman turkish), 1911 a version called ÙÙÙØ© Ø§ÙÙØ§Ø¶Ù luqmat al-qÄdi (judge's mouthful) was described by [[muhammad bin hasan 
Bosnia_and_Herzegovina_cuisine Cypriot_cuisine Doughnuts Greek_desserts Turkish_Cypriot_cuisine Turkish_cuisine