Friday, September 12, 2008

Food for Thought-Fried Dough & Sugar


Lately my body has been betraying me. It doesn't seem to want to digest white flour and sugar without revolting. Some say it's hypoglycemia. I say it's torture because my favorite food in the whole wide world is a big, yeasty, glazed donut. (sigh)

Since I can't eat donuts, I thought I'd write about them here. In all of my travels, I always look for something that approximates a donut. You know, fried dough covered in something sweet.

When I lived in Morocco, street vendors sold this delightful donut-like treat called, sfinj . As I recall, sfinj was this not quite sweet dough, fried in super hot grease in front of your eyes. Like a donut, sfinj were round with a hole in the middle and were sold by the half dozen strung on a palm frond. I would always manage to eat one on the walk home, then save the rest to take home and dip in sugar or smother in strawberry jam. Yum! I found a sfinj recipe here. Can't say I've tested it, but you can try it out and let me know how it turns out.

In Spain, they sell donuts, but they come prepackaged and taste like a Hostess nightmare. Instead for something authentically fried and sweet, I need to only go to a cafe and order churros, with or without chocolate for dipping. Churros aren't round but the idea is the same, fried dough dipped in sugar. Usually in Spain, the churros aren't dipped for you, you have to roll them in your own sugar at the table if you are so inclined. Once, at a street festival in Salamanca, I saw churros filled with custard and dusted with sugar. I didn't try it but the idea sounds tasty.

Okay, I'm salivating here and know the only thing waiting for me to eat is a rye Wasa crisp bed and no-sugar added peanut butter, so please, tell me, what is your favorite fried-dough with sugar?

Peace (and Donut Grease)!

3 comments:

glamah16 said...

Do you think you may be gluten intolerant. Im wondering. But yes its hard to to resit the fried dough and sugar.

Anonymous said...

one word: Mahamri - with hot sweet milky tea. YUM!
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,164,158167-228200,00.html

Anonymous said...

krispy kreme... one of the few good reasons to venture outside of nyc.
-aeric