Loukoumades - Greek Doughnuts

Sam visited us the other day and we decided we would try making Loukoumades.  I settled on the SBS food recipe as it sounded like it was easy and a beginner like me would be able to manage it quite easily.  Making the dough was the easy part. Getting the dough into the hot oil in little balls was definitely hard! I was using a tablespoon as suggested in the recipe and the dough balls were too big.

Sam then found a video of someone using their fingers to drop the balls of dough into the hot oil - and that worked perfectly for me!    

This recipe can feed a huge crowd of a dozen people.  But because I wasted a lot of dough trying to get the technique right, I didn't get that many good looking Loukoumades.

It was definitely worth the try - they are soft light pillows of golden dough dusted with cinnamon, a few strands of saffron, some icing sugar and drizzled with warm honey. Mmmmm!!!!

Ingredients:

1 packet of dry yeast

2 tablespoon sugar

1 cups warm water

1 cup warm milk

3 1/4 cups plain flour

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 level teaspoon salt

Oil for deep frying

To Garnish:

1 cup of honey, warmed

cinnamon powder

icing sugar

chopped almonds

a few strands of saffron (optional)

Some lavender flower petals (optional)

Method:

In a large bowl, mix yeast and sugar into half cup of warm water.  After 5 minutes, the mixture will turn bubbly.  Now add the rest of the ingredients and whisk well till it is all mixed in.  The mixture should be a smooth batter.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and keep it in a warm place for 2 hours.

In a medium size wok, heat oil.  To test if the oil is hot enough, drop a little piece of the batter into the oil.  It should puff up and rise up immediately.

Keep a small bowl of water next to you. Wet the palm of your left hand and the fingers of your right hand. Pinch a small piece of batter with your right hand and manipulate it to make it into a ball and drop it into the hot oil.

Once you get the hang of it it is easy - and you can control the size of the balls.

Keep adding more of the balls into the oil till the wok is comfortably full.  Keep turning them and moving them around till they are uniformly brown all around. 

Remove them once they are done and place them on a kitchen paper towel to drain.  repeat the process till you have finished all the batter.

You can keep remaining batter in the fridge and use it the next day but it is definitely fluffier and softer the first day.

Garnish with warm honey, cinnamon, icing sugar and almonds.  I added a few strands of saffron and a couple of lavender petals for some drama.

You can also replace the honey with chocolate sauce and that is exactly what my children did.