Making luqaimat is a family activity. The dough is made from flour, sugar, yeast and a pinch of cardamom (a fragrant spice). Once it has rested and grown a bit, cooks scoop small spoonfuls into hot oil. The dumplings puff up, turn golden and bob to the surface. They have to be eaten warm.
The thick syrup poured over the top is made from dates, the sweet sticky fruit that grows on palm trees across the UAE. Date palms are perfectly suited to the desert - they need lots of sun, very little water, and they can live for over 100 years. The syrup is called dibs, and it is dark, glossy and richly sweet.
Luqaimat are especially popular during the month of Ramadan, when many Muslim families fast during the day and then enjoy a meal together after sunset. A pile of warm luqaimat on a shared plate is one of the most welcoming sights of the evening meal.
The dish is so old that the same dumplings, with the same name, were being made over 1,000 years ago, written down in cookbooks from medieval Baghdad. Some recipes really do travel through time almost unchanged.