OLD FASHIONED KERALA DOUGHNUTS

Honestly, I don't know how many of you can relate to these doughnuts.These doughnuts played a huge role in my childhood days. Thankachi aunty, my Mamma's sister-in law would make these and send it across to us whenever Mamma visited her. Later, Amma got the recipe from Thankachi aunty and would make it for me once in a while. I don't remember Amma making it much after Ritchie was born. I was 8 1/2 years old when my brother was born,so I pretty much remember everything that happened then. It was my first hands-on experience with babies. Gosh, I do have a lot to tell you all!

So, till Ritchie was born, Mamma's grandkids were all girls. Anju chechy, Tinu, Neethu and I. We would spend our vacations together in Mamma's terrace,grinding up her bougainvillea flowers and then diluting it with water,pretending it to be wine! Mamma was totally against anyone plucking flowers from her plants. That's because her Headmistress,a foreign lady, in her school Balikamadom (Tiruvalla) was very strict about it . She (The Headmistress) would pull out two strands of hair from the head of anyone who dared pluck the flowers from her garden. Then when her birthday came, she would let everyone pluck the flowers to their heart's content. That was the story Mamma would tell us,even though she never pulled out her granddaughter's hair. So finally,when Ritchie was born,she got her first Grandson!Anyway, that has nothing to do with these doughnuts, well almost.

So when Anju chechy got married and was living in Bangalore, we visited her once and Neethu made these and brought it for her sister. Everyone made fun of her saying it's the Home Science effect,because of the subject she took for her undergrad! I was so thrilled to see my favourite thing and still remember eating them early in the morning as soon as we got to Anju chechy's apartment. I don't know if Neethu remembers it but I do!

So, if you are thinking these are the typical melt-in your mouth doughnuts,you are wrong. These are more of the 'Vettu Cake' kind, soft yet a bit like a cookie. I must say that these are super addictive. I wanted to take the pictures of the doughnut holes but I popped them one by one into my mouth while frying the rest. And do you know why I made these today? It was raining here! It was so dark outside and it was thundering and raining at the same time. Even if there is no dinner at home, we always have some kind of a thing to snack on and usually,it is deep fried if it rained like how it did today!

OLD FASHIONED KERALA DOUGHNUTS
Makes 26-28 pieces

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons ghee
3 eggs, separated
Oil for deep frying

Method:
In a bowl, mix together ghee and powdered sugar. Add the egg yolks and mix well. Add the flour,baking powder, salt,lightly beaten egg whites to it and mix to for a soft dough. Set it aside covered with a cloth for 10 mins.
Roll the dough out into 1/4 inch thickness on a floured surface and cut them out like doughnuts. Deep fry in hot oil over medium heat* until golden brown.Drain on paper towels and store in an airtight container. They have an amazing shelf life!

*Don't heat up the oil too much, the doughnuts will brown very fast since there's sugar in the dough.

Well, now this is not Thankachi aunty's recipe.I didn't want to wake Amma up in the middle of the night asking for the recipe. Instead, I checked my favourite source for recipes of these kind, Swapna chechy's blog because I was 100% sure she would have it and she did! Her recipes are foolproof and delicious!