Carnival cooking: Venetian fritole steal the spotlight

January in the kitchen is all about Carnival recipes. It's worthwhile to start testing and experimenting with different options then. Especially from global cuisines. Venetian fritole is a perfect example, but there are many possibilities beyond that.

Carnival is a time when various sweets take centre stage on the tables. There's a time for everything, including doughnuts without filling but with raisins instead. You don't need cutters for these; two spoons will suffice for frying.

In the adult version, you can soak the raisins in rum. To enhance the taste and aroma, you can also add lemon zest and seeds scraped from a vanilla bean to the mix.

Ingredients:

• 85 g raisins,
• 310 g all-purpose flour,
• a pinch of salt,
• 55 g sugar,
• 2 eggs,
• 12 g fresh yeast,
• 200 ml milk,
• oil for frying,
• 3 tablespoons powdered sugar.

Preparation:

1. Soak raisins in hot water.
2. Sift the flour into a bowl, and add salt.
3. Heat the milk, but do not boil it. Crumble the yeast and add sugar. Stir and set aside for the yeast to start working.
4. Drain and dry the raisins.
5. Mix the flour, eggs, yeast mixture, and raisins into a uniform dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave the dough for the Venetian donuts in a warm place to rise for about 2 hours.
6. Heat the oil to around 175°C—measure this with a good kitchen thermometer.
7. Prepare two spoons. Do not stir the dough; scoop portions of the dough onto one spoon, and use the other to slide it into the oil and fry until golden brown, about 2–3 minutes, depending on the size of the doughnuts.
8. Remove the Venetian fritole with a slotted spoon onto paper towels, and once they cool slightly, coat them in sugar.