Papanași

Ingredients

• Curd cheese — well drained500 g
• Eggs2
• Flour250 g
• Semolina50 g
• Sugar60 g
• Bicarbonate of soda1 tsp
• Lemon zest1
• Vanilla1 tsp
• Thick soured cream300 ml
• Blackcurrant jam250 g
• Oil for frying1 l
• Salt1 pinch

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Wring the curd in muslin and push it through a sieve to remove any grain.

   15 min

2. 2

   Mix the curd with the eggs, sugar, zest, vanilla, bicarbonate and salt.

   8 min

3. 3

   Work in the semolina and flour a little at a time, until the dough is soft but stops sticking.

   10 min

4. 4

   Rest the dough twenty minutes; the semolina swells and shaping becomes easier.

   22 min

5. 5

   Shape six ten-centimetre rings and six balls the size of a walnut.

   15 min

6. 6

   Fry at 165 °C for three minutes a side, to a golden colour.

   18 min

7. 7

   Set a ring on a plate, spoon over the soured cream and jam, and crown it with a ball.

   6 min

About the dish

The shape — a ring with a ball on top — is not decorative. The ring fries evenly, and the ball works as a lid holding the soured cream and jam.

The curd is wrung dry in muslin. Wet curd demands more flour and the papanași turn dense instead of airy.

The soured cream has to be very thick, ideally full-fat farm cream. A runny one slides off the doughnut onto the plate and the point of the serving is lost.

Worth knowing

• — The oil must not be too hot. At 180 °C the ring darkens within a minute while the inside stays raw.
• — Use as little flour as possible. Every extra spoon makes papanași denser; work with wet hands rather than adding more.
• — Use a tart jam — blackcurrant or sour cherry. A sweet one makes the dessert cloying, since there is sugar in the dough too.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

620 kcal

Protein

22 g

Fat

32 g

Carbs

62 g

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