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Buñuelos de calabaza
Pumpkin doughnuts
Bunyols de carabassa: Valencia's Fallas pumpkin doughnuts, fried to order and dunked in hot chocolate
When the Fallas bonfires go up in Valencia each March, every other street corner has a stall frying bunyols de carabassa: rough, ring-shaped pumpkin doughnuts pulled from the oil by the dozen and eaten standing up, usually with a cup of thick hot chocolate. The dough is little more than yeasted flour and cooked pumpkin, which keeps the inside soft and faintly orange and the outside crisp and blistered. They contain no egg, milk or butter, so they are suitable for vegans. A common mistake is adding flour until the dough feels like bread dough; it should be sticky and slack, almost a thick batter, or the doughnuts come out heavy. Chef's tip: keep a bowl of water beside the pan and wet your hands before shaping each one; the dough then slides off your fingers into the oil instead of clinging to them.
- Total time
- 65 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
For the dough
- 14 oz pumpkinor butternut squash; peeled, seeded and cut into chunks (about 250 g once cooked and mashed)
- ½ cup warm waterabout 35 °C
- ½ oz fresh yeastor 5 g fast-action dried yeast
- 10 ½ oz plain flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp orange zest (optional)finely grated
To fry and finish
- 4 ¼ cups sunflower oilfor deep-frying
- 2 ⅞ oz caster sugarfor dusting
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Method
0/8 doneStep 2: Whisk ½ oz fresh yeast into ½ cup warm water until dissolved. In a large bowl mix 10 ½ oz plain flour and ½ tsp salt (and the orange zest, if using), then add the warm pumpkin purée and the yeast water.
Step 3: Beat with a wooden spoon or your hand for 5 minutes, slapping the dough against the side of the bowl, until it turns elastic and pulls away in long strings. It should be very soft and sticky; only add a spoonful more flour if it pours like batter.
5 minStep 4: Cover and leave in a warm place until doubled and full of bubbles, about 1 to 1½ hours.
90 minStep 5: Heat 4 ¼ cups sunflower oil in a deep, heavy pan to 350°F, filled no more than a third full. A cube of bread should turn golden in about 40 seconds.
Step 6: Wet your hands, pinch off a walnut-sized piece of dough, stretch it into a flat disc and push your thumb through the middle to make a ring. Slide it gently into the oil, away from you. Fry 3 or 4 at a time.
Step 7: Fry for about 1 minute a side, turning with a skewer through the hole, until puffed, deep golden and crisp. Lift out and drain on kitchen paper; if they brown in under 30 seconds, the oil is too hot and the middle will stay raw.
15 minStep 8: Toss the warm buñuelos in 2 ⅞ oz caster sugar and serve straight away, with hot chocolate for dipping. Let the oil cool completely before you move the pan.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 290 kcal
- Protein
- 4 g
- Carbs
- 48 g
- Fat
- 9 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does buñuelos de calabaza take?
- About 65 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of caster sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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