← Nouns Cooking · Brazilian & Peruvian

Ingredients

• 250 g Sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
• 250 g butternut squash or pumpkin, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 tsp Anise seeds (anís)
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 2 whole cloves
• 7 g fast-action dried yeast (1 sachet)
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 300 g plain flour
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 l vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 250 g chancaca, piloncillo or dark brown sugar
• 250 ml Water
• 1 strip of orange peel
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 3 whole cloves

Method

1. Put the sweet potato, squash, anise, cinnamon and cloves in a pan, cover with water and simmer for 15–20 min, until very soft. Lift out the vegetables, then strain and keep 150 ml of the spiced cooking water; let it cool until just warm.
2. Mash or blend the vegetables to a smooth purée and leave to cool until lukewarm. Stir the yeast and sugar into the warm cooking water and leave for 5 min, until foamy.
3. In a large bowl, mix the purée, yeast mixture, flour and salt. Beat with your hand or a wooden spoon for 5 min, until you have a very soft, sticky, stretchy batter. Cover and leave somewhere warm for 1½ hours, until doubled and bubbly.
4. Meanwhile, simmer all the syrup ingredients for 15–20 min, until thick enough to coat a spoon, like runny honey. Strain and keep warm.
5. Heat the oil in a deep, heavy pan to 175°C (350°F), filling it no more than a third full. Keep a bowl of salted water nearby and wet your hands.
6. Pinch off a golf-ball piece of batter, poke your thumb through the middle to stretch it into a ring and drop it carefully into the oil. Fry 3–4 at a time for 2–3 min, turning once with a skewer, until deep golden and crisp.
7. Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot, drizzled generously with the warm syrup.

Tips

• Shaping takes practice: wet hands stop the batter sticking, and wonky rings taste just as good.
• Chancaca is Peruvian unrefined cane sugar; Mexican piloncillo or dark muscovado sugar give the same deep caramel flavour.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Eat Peru Peru Delights