Fichuelas de Hanukkah
11 December 2007 - 3 טבת 5768 by Huw
Reposted with a photo of this year’s batch
Because no one can get enough fried foods… This wonderful recipe is from The Hanukkah Book, by Mae Shafter Rockland. Released first in 1975 and again in 1985, it is now out of print. I’ve had my copy since 1985 (I picked it up when living in Atlanta) and dug it out of the pile to find this recipe (as well as to refresh my memory on some other holiday points).
Recipe below…
- 5 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1/4 cup salad oil
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 2 cups salad oil for frying
- Sugar Glaze
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
Measure the four into a large mixing bowl and stir in the remaining dough ingredients in the order given. This will make a fairly stiff dough. Knead vigourously for five minutes on an unfloured surface or until the dough feels smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 4 balls. Roll the fisrt ball out into a lightly floured surface to make a rectangle about 9 x 18 inches. The dough should be as thing and translucent as possible. Cut the dough into 6 strips about 1 1/2 inches wide and 18 inches long. (The dough will be easier to roll if it is tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and allowed to “rest” for at least an hour.)
Heat the 2 cups of salad oil in a small shallow sauce pan. (Unlike latkes, you will only be making one fichuela at a time, so you will not need a large frying pan.)
Prepare the sugar glaze by heating the sugar in the water until it is melted but not brown. Keep warm while using.
Gently lift one end of a strip of dough in your left hand. Pierce the other end with a fork; place this end in the hot oil. As it fries, gently turn the fork, rolling the dough around it and forming a pinwheel. It goes very quickly, the dough puffing up to look like a pastry rose. Do not allow it to remain in oil long enough to brown. Even when fried, the dough should remain almost white, with a few golden spots. Use a slotted spoon to remove the pastry from the hot oil and dip it immediately into the warm sugar glaze. Place on a plate to cool.
Repeat with all of the dough until you have 24 pastries. (Any scraps can, of course, be fried and glazed, but they wont be as elegant as the spiral.)
Text taken from “The Hanukkah Book”, pages 83-84.
The author got this recipe sitting in the synagogue in Madrid in conversation with the caretaker.
Just FYI… I also have a recipe for fried Hamantaschen!
