Fried Dough · Morning Street Snack

Sfenj (سفنج)

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Its name comes from the Arabic word for "sponge" — and one legend says the whole style of doughnut was born from a baker fumbling a ball of dough into hot oil.

Sfenj is a ring-shaped, unsweetened yeasted doughnut deep-fried to order until crisp outside and airy inside. Vendors thread the hot rings onto a palm-reed string for carrying, and Moroccans grab them fresh from the souk, often dunked in sugar or eaten alongside sweet mint tea.

Why it's made this way: Believed to have spread from Moorish Spain into the Maghreb centuries ago, sfenj became a dawn-to-morning street trade because the dough needs no resting time before frying, letting vendors fry continuously to order.