Romanian · dessert

Papanași (Fried Curd Doughnuts with Sour Cream and Bilberry Jam)

Name: Papanași (Fried Curd Doughnuts with Sour Cream and Bilberry Jam)
Prep time: 2 h 26 min
Total time: 2 h 26 min
Cuisine: Romanian
Ingredients: twarog — 500 g; eggs — 200 g; caster sugar — 80 g; all-purpose flour — 220 g; baking soda — 5 g; lemon juice — 15 g; salt — 3 g; vanilla extract — 5 g; lemon zest — 15 g; sunflower oil — 920 g; sour cream — 300 g; wild bilberry jam — 250 g; powdered sugar — 25 g

Papanași (Fried Curd Doughnuts with Sour Cream and Bilberry Jam) reads sweetness 6.4, citrus 5.8 and sourness 4.9 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Romanian dessert, about 2 hr 26 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 3.6 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 7.3 / 10
Sour & Bright — 7.3 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 0.8 / 10
Rich & Fat — 4.4 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 3.2 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 6.4 · Citrus 5.8 · Sourness 4.9 · Richness 3.9 · Fruity 3.2 · Salinity 3.2 · Floral 3.1 · Funk & Ferment 2.5 · Umami 2.0 · Nutty 1.5 · Herbaceous 0.9 · Bitterness 0.7 · Earthy 0.6

What's in it (13)

twarog — 500 g
eggs — 200 g
caster sugar — 80 g
all-purpose flour — 220 g
baking soda — 5 g
lemon juice — 15 g
salt — 3 g
vanilla extract — 5 g
lemon zest — 15 g
sunflower oil — 920 g
sour cream — 300 g
wild bilberry jam — 250 g
powdered sugar — 25 g

Time & effort: about 2 hr 26 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 123 kcal, 3.3 g protein, 4.7 g fat, 17.1 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (10 steps)

If your curd is wet, tip it into muslin and let it drain for 2 hours. Wet curd forces you to add more flour and the papanași come out heavy.
Beat the curd with the eggs, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and salt, 3 minutes, until smooth.
Slake the bicarbonate of soda in the lemon juice in a small cup, wait for it to fizz, and stir it in immediately, 1 minute. The lift comes from this reaction and it begins straight away; a batter left standing after this point fries flat.
Work in the flour with a light hand, 3 minutes, to a soft dough that just holds a shape. Stop as soon as it comes together.
With wet hands, shape 8 rings about 8 cm across with a 2 cm hole, and 8 small balls for the tops, 10 minutes.
Heat the oil to 170 C and fry the rings 3 minutes a side, turning once, until deep gold and swollen. Fry the little balls alongside. Hold the temperature: hotter and the crust colours long before the curd inside sets, and you get a raw middle.
Drain on a rack 3 minutes.
Put a ring on each plate, spoon over a thick pool of cold smântână and a heap of bilberry jam, and sit the little ball on top.
Dust with icing sugar and eat straight away, while the doughnut is hot and the cream is cold. Wild bilberry, afine, is the traditional jam; it is sharper and more resinous than blueberry and it is what cuts through the fried curd.
Substitutions: urdă can stand in for the brânză de vaci.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Babka Wielkanocna (Easter Yeast Babka with Saffron and Raisins) — Polish
Babà al Rum — Italian · Naples
Lokshen Kugel (Sweet Noodle Pudding with Curd and Cinnamon) — Ashkenazi
Kougelhopf — French · Alsace
Gâteau de Savoie — French · Savoy

Keep reading: what sweetness, citrus, sourness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.