Romanian Doughnuts – Papanasi Recipe
The traditional Romanian fried doughnuts – papanasi are made with cottage cheese and topped with smetana and jam.
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 304kcal
Ingredients
- 500 g cottage cheese 1.1 lbs/ 2 ¼ cups
- 2 eggs
- a few drops rum aroma optional
- 75 g granulated sugar ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon
- 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar Note 1
- 230-250 g all-purpose flour 8 – 9 oz / about 2 cups, Note 2
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- vegetable oil for frying the doughnuts, Note 3
- 250 g smetana or crème fraiche to serve, 1 cup
- whole fruit runny blueberry jam to serve, Note 4
Instructions
- Drain the excess water from the cottage cheese. 500 g cottage cheese/ 1.1 lb/ 2¼ cup
- Blend: Place the cottage cheese in a bowl. Add the eggs and the rum aroma, the granulated, and vanilla sugar. With an immersion blender, blend the ingredients until you obtain a rough paste. The cottage cheese should not be turned into a smooth paste, just blended a little bit to make the cheese balls a little more delicate.2 eggs + a few drops rum aroma + 75 g granulated sugar/ ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
- Dough: Mix about 230 g/ 8 oz of the flour and baking soda. Add them to the cheese mixture. Mix with a spoon. Flour the working surface and your hands generously. Turn the dough onto the floured surface and knead it lightly to form a ball. The dough should still be somewhat sticky yet manageable. Add the remaining flour only if absolutely necessary, only if the dough sticks so much that you cannot work with it at all.230-250 g all-purpose flour/ 8 – 9 oz / about 2 cups + 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Form donuts: Divide the dough into 9 balls. Roll 8 of the balls into thick sausages and unite the sausage ends to get a circle with a hole in the middle. Use the last ball to make 8 little balls, which will be used to top the papanasi.
- Heat oil: In the meantime, heat the oil in a pot. Use enough oil to have about 10 cm/ 4 inches of it in the pot. To check if the oil has reached the right temperature, insert a toothpick in the oil; if blisters are forming around the toothpick, you can start frying the papanasi.vegetable oil
- Fry: Only fry two or three papanasi at a time, depending on the size of your pan, do not overcrowd the pan; the papanasi should be able to move around freely. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Turn the doughnuts with a slotted spoon a few times in between and fry until the papanasi are golden brown. It took me about 5 to 7 minutes for one batch, but keep a close look and take them out as soon as they have a nice golden color. Or leave them longer if necessary. The little balls will need less time, about 3-4 minutes or so.
- Remove excess oil: Place them on plates lined with paper towels and dry them to absorb some excess fat.
- Serve warm topped with smetana and blueberry jam. Place the little balls on top and top them with a bit of smetana and jam as well.250 g smetana + whole fruit runny blueberry jam
Notes
- Substitute vanilla sugar with a little vanilla extract.
- Measurements: I recommend using a digital kitchen scale to measure the ingredients (the Amazon affiliate link opens in a new tab).
- Oil: Use enough oil to have about 4 inches/ 10 cm of it in the pot.
- Jam: Use a runny kind of jam, preferably with whole berries or chopped fruit pieces in it, something a bit tart like sour cherry, blackberry, black currant jam, etc.
Nutrition
Serving: 1papanas | Calories: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 59mg | Sodium: 425mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 12g