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Ponchiki - Russian donut holes recipe

Okay so don’t knock it till you try it! I know these look like little chicken nuggets but they are actually cheesy donuts that can be served with sweet condensed milk, sour cream and sauces.

Ingredients (makes 15+):

2 cups flour

500 grams cottage cheese (ricotta and farmers cheese will do also)

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon baking powder (bi-carb soda)

Vegetable or canola oil for frying

Chocolate or chocolate chips (optional)

Your choice of dipping sauce (condensed milk is used for this example)

Before you start preparing your ponchiki you will need a small/medium pot with oil for frying. Fill as high as you please. Set this to 180’c. Please be careful when frying as oil gets very hot and may splash!

Chop up your chocolate - if you have chocolate chips then skip this step!

Put ALL ingredients into a bowl and mix

Once mixed, grab a rounded spoon and make little 2” balls until the bowl is empty - these do not have to be perfectly round

Next you will roll each ball through flour until it no longer feels sticky

Once lightly coated in flour, carefully lower them into the oil, one at a time, using a metal spoon or tongs

If your oil is shallow like mine, you will need to use tongs to flip the ball over, ensuring that both sides are a deep golden brown.

When removing the ponchiki place them straight onto paper towel to absorb the oil. You don’t want an oily ponchiki!!

Serve with the dipping sauce of your choice or sprinkle with icing sugar.

 Enjoy! 

[fussyfoodblog]

Blini/Blinchiki - Russian Crêpes

Ingredients: (makes ~10)

2 eggs

2 cups of milk

1 tablespoon of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 cups of flour (stop adding flour once you reach a good consistency, no more than 2 cups!!)

2 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil + extra to oil the pan

Put eggs, salt, sugar into a bowl

Add milk and whisk together

Add the flour in small amounts (sifting is optional) whisk as you add

Stop adding flour when the mixture feels thicker than milk but still runny! It should look something like the picture below

Once you have reached this consistency, add 2T of oil to the batch and a small dribble in the pan

Set the stove to a medium heat - I found 5 or 6 to be perfect

Using a large spoon or ladle, scoop the mixture straight into the hot pan

(here's the tricky part) Straight away you must move the pan in a circular motion in order to spread the mixture around

By spreading the mixture across the pan, your result will be a thinner blin (which is a good result)

Once you begin to see small air bubbles on the top of your blin, that means it is time to flip! Use a spatular and carefully turn your blin over

Don't stress if your first blin looks a little yucky. Blini are never perfect the first time! Use the first blin as an experiment - by the end you will have perfect looking blini!

Once you are done making your blini, it it popular to top them with sour cream for savoury or condensed milk and jams for sweet. I have chosen strawberry jam and chocolate

Very easy to make and can be eaten warm or cold! Hope you enjoy!