Hanukkah, literally "dedication" in Hebrew, commemorates the Maccabean revolt that led to the historical recovery of Jerusalem from the Greek empire and the rededication of the menorah in the Second Temple around 168 BCE. Religious texts later extrapolated on the event in Shabbat 21b of the Talmud, writing of the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days. Oil and fried foods have ever since been inextricably linked to the holiday.

But there's more to explore in the culinary canon of the Jewish "Festival of Lights" beyond the traditional latkes (grated potatoes mixed with onions, egg and fried into crunchy pancakes) and sufganiyot (doughnuts stuffed with a piping bag full of jelly) that are as essential to celebrating Hanukkah as candles for the hanukkiah – the nine-branch menorah used exclusively for the holiday. This year, take a trip back to 13th Century al-Andalus (modern-day Andalusia, Spain) when Jews – and Muslims – both indulged in isfenğ.

Fried foods are the norm when celebrating Hanukkah and isfenğ is no exception among Sephardim – the Jewish diaspora with roots in Spain prior to the Inquisition. Isfenğ are simplified culinary cousins of sufganiyot. There's no piping bag necessary; just golf ball-sized pieces of dough stretched, formed into a ring and dipped in frying oil for about a minute each side. That's it. Its crispy thin crust gives the doughnut the flavour of fried toast when you bite into it, followed by a hint of sweetness.

Hélène Jawhara Piñer is a Sephardic cookbook author with a PhD in medieval history and the history of food who's been recognised and awarded by a number of organisations, including most recently the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, for her engagement with Sephardic history research. She grew up in France surrounded by French family, but with Andalusian roots through her father. Her second book on Sephardic culinary heritage, Jews, Food, and Spain was released in November. Simply put, she is the person chefs, like Zahav's Michael Solomonov, go to when working with Sephardic cuisine.

"Isfenǧ is a big fried doughnut with bubbles everywhere," she explained. "It's crispy on the outside and airy on the inside."

Piñer writes in her new book that references to isfenǧ can be found in the 13th-Century Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ, the oldest cookbook of the Iberian Peninsula. But those recipes don't seem to fully resemble today's isfenǧ – for one thing, there was no hole in the centre.

Isfenǧ (with a hole) makes its second appearance in the 13th-Century Spanish-Arabic cookbook, the Fuḍālat al-ẖiwān, with a recipe that can be translated as "Confection of Doughnuts".

"This preparation is made from semolina that is dissolved in hot water with salt and yeast," Piñer writes. "They must be fried and browned on the bottom but remain white on top. They can be cooked twice, so that they are lighter [in texture]."