Poolaki

Vinegar goes into the syrup, which is what lets it set as a thin clear disc instead of going grainy.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 500 g sugar
• 150 ml water
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, ground and steeped in 1 tablespoon hot water, or 1 teaspoon ground dried lime, or 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Method

1. VINEGAR GOES INTO THE SYRUP, WHICH IS WHAT LETS IT SET AS A THIN CLEAR DISC INSTEAD OF GOING GRAINY. Its article lists the ingredients as sugar, water, white vinegar and a flavouring, and the vinegar is the only one that is doing chemistry. Acid breaks some of the sucrose into glucose and fructose, and that mixture will not crystallise as readily -- so the syrup sets as a transparent glass rather than an opaque sugary mass. That is what makes the sweet what its article describes: a thin disc like a coin that starts dissolving as soon as it enters the mouth. Left out, you get cloudy, crumbly discs that are a different thing entirely.
2. IT IS TAKEN TO 150C AND NOT STIRRED AFTER IT BOILS. Hard crack. Once the sugar has dissolved and the pan is boiling, put the spoon down -- stirring a boiling sugar syrup throws crystals back into it and is the other way to end up with grainy sweets.
3. THE SIDES OF THE PAN ARE WASHED DOWN WITH A WET BRUSH. Crystals forming above the syrup line will seed the whole batch if they fall in. Brush them down with water in the first few minutes.
4. THE VINEGAR GOES IN AT THE START, WITH THE WATER. It needs the whole boil to do its work.
5. THE FLAVOURING GOES IN OFF THE HEAT, AND THERE ARE THREE TO CHOOSE FROM. Its article names saffron, dried lime and cocoa powder. One of them, not several -- the discs are thin and there is not much of anything in each one.
6. IT IS DROPPED IN TEASPOONFULS ONTO PARCHMENT. Each one spreads to a thin coin of two or three centimetres on its own. Working fast matters: the syrup is unusable within two minutes.
7. THEY MUST BE AIRTIGHT WITHIN THE HOUR. Boiled sugar at this temperature is hygroscopic and the discs go tacky in a kitchen's humidity. Into a tin with a tight lid as soon as they are cold and hard.
8. ITS ARTICLE PLACES IT IN ISFAHAN and explains the name: it is close to the Persian word for a small coin, which is what the shape is. It is eaten with tea, held in the mouth or dropped into the glass.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Iran · All recipes