Bunuelos, Chanukah recipe #2
The secret Jews of Spanish lands suffered under the Inquisition. Some of the records of the Inquisition contain the most amazing food history - people’s food habits were used to determine if they were practising Jews (with their religion in hiding) or good pork-eating Catholics. One of my favourite (but saddest) cookbooks is a reconstruction of recipes and a memory of some of the lives from the trial records taken at the end of the fifteenth century in Valencia. The reconstructors are David M Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson and the book is A Drizzle of Honey. The Lives and Recipes of Spain’s Secret Jews.
Chanukah is a festival of freedom and it doesn’t hurt to remember that these Jews weren’t free. The culinary tradition from A Drizzle of Honey records Jews who chose conversion and also chose to celebrate their culture through cooking. The freedom to cook and eat the dishes you choose and that your ancestors chose before you became potentially fatal. When I make these I always remember that the freedom to eat food that helps you remember your heritage is an important freedom.
Bunuelos
Dough: 1 package dry yeast, 1 1/3 cups warm water, 3 cups white flour, 2 beaten eggs, generous pinch salt, 1 tbs olive oil
Syrup: 3 cups honey, 1/4 cup water
Topping: Cinnamon mixed with icing sugar
Dough method: Dissolve yeast in 1/3 cup water warm water. Wait ten minutes. Stir all of the yeast mixture, eggs, salt, oil into the flour. Gradually add the rest of the water until the dough is slightly tacky. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk.
Syrup method: Mix honey and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and summer for 5 minutes. Reduce heat further to keep syrup hot until needed.
Fry fritters in oil*, a teaspoon at a time. Do not crowd the pan. When they puff up and become golden (c 8 minutes) they should be ready. Drain on paper towels. When they are drained, drizzle the syrup over them and then sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar mixture.
*Olive oil is the correct oil but vegetable oil gives a browner finish.
June 1st, 2008 at 7:24 pm
How much does it take for the dough to rise?
June 1st, 2008 at 10:54 pm
How much time? That depends on the weather, this is why a lot of yeast recipes tell you that the mixture has to double rather than sit for a certain amount of time. When I made them in summer it took about 20 minutes. I’ve not made them in cooler weather, though, since the only time I cook doughnuts is for Chanukah and Chanuakh is late Spring or early Summer in Australia.