Bombalouni

Bombalouni is a yeasted dough deep-fried into a puffed, pillowy ring and rolled in sugar while still hot. It is Tunisia's boardwalk doughnut, sold from summer beachfront stalls where the smell of the fryer carries further than the stall itself.

What it really is

A simple yeasted dough, often flavoured with a little orange zest or orange blossom water, rests until it's fully risen and airy, then stretches by hand into a ring before dropping into hot oil. The ring shape lets heat reach the dough evenly from both the outer and inner edge, puffing it up light and hollow rather than dense in the centre the way a solid disc would fry. Straight from the oil, still hot enough to melt sugar on contact, it's rolled immediately in granulated sugar.

Rolling it in sugar while it's still hot is what makes the coating stick. A bombalouni left to cool first barely holds any sugar at all; the heat straight from the fryer is what melts the sugar just enough to cling to the surface.

How it is served

• Hot, straight from the fryer, sugar still visibly clinging to the surface.
• Plain, rarely filled or topped with anything beyond the sugar coating.
• As a beachfront or festival treat, eaten immediately rather than saved.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the wheat.
• It is naturally vegan and vegetarian as standard.
• Say if it's fried to order, since bombalouni loses its light, puffed texture quickly once it sits.