Hanukkah, the holiday of lights, or the holiday of oil, is approaching quickly.
As the story goes, when the Maccabees (very angry Jewish rebels) returned to the destroyed Temple (destroyed by the Syrian-Greeks), they had only one day’s worth of oil to light the Menorah and purify the Temple, but surprise surprise- the oil lasted for full eight days.
Ever since that story, Jews are bound to show happiness for that amazing miracle by eating oily foods. In fact, the essence of most of the Jewish holidays is known to be: “they fought us, we fought back, yalla, let’s eat!”
So let us look at the bright side, and instead of remembering that deep fried food is, emmm, not so good for us, let’s commemorate the extraordinary event of the oil and light, and move on to fluffy, fun filled side of
**** drum-roll please****
Sufganiyot
As I needed to write a post about Sufganiyot for one of my customers, I have decided to make them. Yet, as opposed to the traditional Sufganiyot made from yeast, and take a whole day to plan and prepare, I made those little cuties, sweet and soft dumplings, that do not leave us feeling bloated, but rather light. Did I mention they look silly? In a positive way, of course.
you’ll need:
- 2.5 cups of flour
- 1.3 cups yogurt
- 3 spoons sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon orange rind (optional)
- oil (I wasn’t kidding, there’s deep frying involved)
- confectioners’ sugar
how-to:
- In a deep frying pan, start heating at least 2 inches of oil to medium heat*. Meanwhile:
- Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. mix.
- pour all wet ingredients into the mixed flour, and whisk slowly together, until smooth and all the flour dissolved.
- Working in batches of 5 or 6, slip dollops of doughnuts into hot oil (365°F, 185°C) using 2 tablespoons. Don’t make the doughnuts too big, and let them get their own happy, free shape. They’re not supposed to be perfectly round. Fry, turning once, about 1.5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Remember to be careful, as the oil is very hot.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to paper towels to drain.
- When the sufganiyot are cool, sprinkle the confectioners’ sugar on top. Take a good look. Enjoy. Bite.
* I recommend using a wide pot to make it easier to maneuver sufganiyot in and out of the hot oil. Also, don’t heat oil too quickly, let it take it’s time. You can test the temperature with the end of a wooden spoon. If it bubbles vigorously, you have reached the desired temperature.
I knew I could count on you! Happy lights festival :))
thank you Mira, Happy holidays to all 🙂
Yumm….. I can almost smell the orange zest. Are there any for sharing?
Enjoy Ayelet and we wish you all a very happy Hanukkah!
thank you my dear !
Go Ayelet!!! is that what we once used to call supfganyot leben?
happy Channukah!
yap, sufganiyot leben/yogurt they are 🙂 or sufganiyot that we made in kindergarten…
Hey! Yummy!
But what about the strawberry Reeba ??
( ריבה במלעיל…) :))))
you try and push some reeba (במלעיל) into those tiny sufganiyot 🙂
Try it. It works! אין דבר העומד בפני הרייייבה
i think they’re good enough without the jam, but feel free to fill them babies up
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