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!
 

VETTU CAKE / FRIED CAKE

T
his is a chayakada / tea shop special that I've eaten only in Kerala. I am sure it's available in other states but I have personally never seen it elsewhere. It's something that you can eat when it's raining outside. Anything deep fried counts as a rainy day food,right? Maybe not French fries as I've never eaten that as a snack for tea. Whenever we travel together as a family in Kerala, a stop at a chayakada in inevitable. A pit stop for tea will end up being a pit stop for a meal. We usually order one of every item displayed in those glass shelves so that we can taste everything. The last time I remember eating a Vettu cake was on our way to Kodaikanal,somewhere close to Munnar.I also asked the teashop owner to pack me some for the road.

We get some good rains here in Minneapolis and one such gloomy afternoon, I was craving for these fried goodies. I remembered Swapna chechy posting about it a while ago. So I pinged her on Facebook to check if it was the tender kinds,by which I mean not as hard as rock types. That's when she said that she's never had it in a tea shop. I trust her recipes so I thought of giving it a try . They turned out 100% the way I wanted it to be.

So I have some news for you. 2 bad news actually. The first one is that I didn't get through the scholarship contest and the second one is that I lost a dear Uncle a few days ago. The first news didn't bother me at all since it was just a competition but the latter did. Being so far away from my family doesn't help either.He was my Amma's second brother who lived in Pallikuttumma. Now, Pallikuttumma will not be the same anymore.

Let's move on to the recipe now.

VETTU CAKE

Ingredients:
500 grams all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
250 grams confectioners sugar
Approximately 1/2 cup water
Oil for frying

Method: In a bowl,whisk together flour,baking soda,salt and ground cardamom.
In another bowl, beat together eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the flour mix along with just enough water to form a tight / stiff dough. Cover the dough with a damp towel and set aside for 1 hour. Divide the dough into 4. Roll them out to form a cylinder. Flatten it out and cut out 1 inch squares or triangles. Slit the pieces as shown.

Heat oil to 350 F on medium heat and fry them till they are golden brown. Drain on paper towels, cool and store in an airtight container. It will stay fresh for 2-3 weeks!

These cakes are super addictive.You really cannot stop at one. Move aside potato chips!
When I was little, we would make doughnuts at home. It's not the same kind you get to buy outside. They were a little hard and dry. I am not sure how many of you can relate to me. It was something that my Grandaunt made for us.Mamma's sister-in-law Thankachi aunty. Then when we got the recipe, we would try it at home. Neethu, my cousin,made it once after she graduated from college and everyone made fun of her saying that she is trying to show off her 'Home Science' skills! I've heard that comment too since I took up Home Science in college. Trust me, we are not taught to become better home cooks instead a sensible cook who knows what goes into their meals. So there's a lot of science to it.

Anyway, these vettu cakes reminded me of those doughnuts I ate a long time ago. They are incredible. Do make it the next time it rains in your part of the world. You can thank me later!