The Funky Kitchen

One day, not too long ago, I got to spend the morning and afternoon with my Baba, making pounchki. She hadn’t made them in a number of years, but when I asked if we could make some, she was only too happy to oblige.

Food can ingrain some very detailed memories, and pounchki do that for me. They are like little fried doughnut holes, filled with a poppy seed filling. Pounchki are also known as paczki or pampushky. They are so good, and even better if you dust them with a little bit of icing sugar.

My Baba didn’t have a written recipe and my mum knows how to make them, but not the proportions of what you make them with. Now, after paying some studious attention, weighing and measuring as we went, we have a recipe.  As we kneaded, rolled and pinched the morning away I got to hear about my Great Baba, her mother-in-law whom I never had the chance to meet. From what I’m told, she is the reason we only make pounchki in the winter.

I’m really happy with the way they turned out, and also that I’ve got a recipe so that we won’t be out of luck when my Baba decides she isn’t going to make them anymore. The following recipe is for a lot of pounchki, because my Baba does not make things in small batches. Feel free to halve or quarter the recipe.

Pounchki

5 Cup warm water

2 Tbsp yeast

8 eggs

1 Cup vegetable oil

1 Cup + 1 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp vanilla

1 Tbsp salt

13 Cups of flour

• In a bowl, bloom the yeast with 1 Cup of the water and 1 Tbsp of the sugar. Allow to sit while you assemble the other ingredients.
• Beat 8 eggs together in a big bowl.
• Stir in the oil, remaining sugar, vanilla, salt and bloomed yeast.
• Mix in the flour until the dough will not take it in anymore, and then tip out of the bowl and knead, knead, knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Baba says: “You want a nice, soft dough.”
• Cover the dough with a damp tea towel and let it rise twice, punching down between rises, while you prepare the filling.

2 pounds of poppy seeds, ground with a coffee grinder (This way you can control how well ground they are, and they will be less likely to be rancid)

1 Cup sugar

1 Cup honey

2 Cups milk

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice

• Combine all of the ingredients.
• Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring often to ensure it does not burn.
• Remove from heat and let cool. Spreading the filling on a sheet pan to increase its surface area will help it cool more quickly.

• Roll our your dough, in portions, to about 1/4″ thick, and then cut it, with a knife into small squares, ~1 1/2″.
• Spoon about 1 1/2-2 tsp of filling onto a dough square. Pinch the corners of the dough together across the filling, and then pinch the seams closed, sealing the filling inside the dough.

• Roll the pounchki in your hand a little bit to help it become more spherical.
• Repeat the above three steps until you run out of filling.
• Deep fry the pounchki in batches in a pot of oil that is hot but not smoking, until puffed and golden brown. They do grow a fair amount during frying.

• Set fried pounchki on paper towels to drain away extra oil.

Serve as is, or dusted with icing sugar if you’re feeling fancy. If you have extra dough left after all of the filling is used, make doughnuts!

Pounchki are so good. These bring me straight back to being probably six or seven, in my mum’s kitchen, biting into my first one before even getting to the table.

Mr’s Babcia makes something very similar, but instead of poppy seed filling each golden bun of goodness contains a prune. Mr was not a fan of the pounchki I brought home, but in this case, Mr is crazy! He liked the doughnuts though.

This time last year: Spaghetti with Spicy Italian Sausage, Roasted Acorn Squash and Labneh

The hours are winding down, the year is almost over, a new one is about to start.

2011 has been quite a year; we’ve experienced some losses and met some new and fabulous people. We’ve traveled a little bit, as well as settled into our sweet little house. I graduated from University. There have been so many fabulous meals shared with friends and family. I’m a little bit sad to see 2011 go, but it’s exciting to look forward. It is impossible to know what 2012 will hold but I am so very excited to find out.

To all of you, thank you so much for being here. This project is such a source of joy for me, and you’re all a part of it. Happy New Year!

xoxoxo

Chocolate Truffles Trio Version 2.0

(basic recipe is the same as last year’s, flavor options have changed)

1/2 Cup whipping cream

1 Tbsp honey

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp chai masala, or 1 1/2 tsp pomegranate molasses, or 2 sprigs of mint

10 oz chocolate

1 Cup cocoa, for rolling

• Combine cream, honey, and salt in a bain marie, stirring until dissolved.
• Add flavoring ingredient of choice and let steep for 5 minutes. For the mint truffles, strain the mint out before continuing.
• Stir in chocolate until melted and the mixture is smooth.
• Transfer mixture into a clean resealable container and refrigerate until firm (~2 hours).
• Using a melon baller or your hands, roll out the hardened truffles into small balls. Roll the balls in cocoa powder so that they will not stick together.

This year’s flavors were a big hit! Pomegranate came out as a strong favorite, which surprised me because I was worried that it would have been the weirdly received flavor if there would be one. The flavor of the chai truffles was really great, but the chai masala (chai spice mixture) made them a little bit grainy. I’m going to have to find a way to get the flavor in but somehow remove the powder. But how does one strain out a fine powder? Any advice out there? The mint is a classic pairing with chocolate. Yum! Next year we’re going to have to make more so that we can have some for ourselves left after gifting.

Mr says: making truffles as a team makes it a much easier and faster process. Pomegranate was my favorite! Happy New Year!

This time last year: Christmas Truffle Trio (Version 1.0)

Dear Spammers from Poland,

I’m really touched that you are showing so much interest in my website. I certainly appreciate the prolific nature of your attention; but leaving spam messages every four minutes for days on end has been starting to wear me out. After spending some time on poltran.com, a Polish to English translator, I’ve learned that the majority of your messages have to do with pharmaceutical products. I thank you for the information, but I hope that in the future you might try to keep what you have to say more on topic.

I would hate to have you feel as though you are not welcome here because really, everyone is, so I bring this offering of bread. It’s one of those foods that is universally comforting and welcoming. I am very pleased that you are here, but I wonder if you’re actually reading, or if you are just here to advertise about pharmaceuticals. I offer this bread because I would like to continue to coexist here together, but all I ask is that you stay on topic or at least limit yourself a little bit. A spam message every four minutes is a little bit much.

Please consider my position. Enjoy the bread.

Dana

Rye Bread with Dill and Cottage Cheese

9 grams yeast

1 Cup warm water

1 tsp honey

1 tsp salt

2 Cups flour

1 Cup rye flour

1/4 Cup 9 grain cereal

2/3 Cup cottage cheese

1/4 Cup dill, minced

Directions

Stir the yeast, honey and salt into the warm water. Allow to sit for a few minutes for the yeast to wake up and start to bloom. Incorporate both the flour and rye flour, and then knead until the dough is elastic. Add the cottage cheese and minced dill, and continue to knead until the bread dough becomes uniform again. Put the dough into a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel, allowing it to rise until it has doubled in size. Punch the bread down (my favorite part!) and allow it to rise to double it’s size once more. Form the bread into a loaf shape, and allow to rise a few minutes before cutting some slits into the top to allow it to expand in the baking process. Bake the loaf in a 375° oven for about 40 minutes, until the crust is brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Bread baking is such a joy, and I love to share home made bread with those around me. I have one friend who took to treating himself to toasted slices of this loaf when he came to visit us at the house. I hope that my prolific Polish spammers would enjoy the offering too. This loaf is nicely nutty tasting from the 9 grain cereal and rye flour, and the dill flavors are rounded out by the cottage cheese. All in all, quite an enjoyable bread.

Mr was a little bit less than enthused about the bread, because of the 9 grain cereal, he doesn’t really appreciate particulate matter in his bread. In his words, “They invented the millstone thousands of years ago, why can’t we grind up all of the grains? Mr also says: Be careful if you make this bread, because the crust can get too crunchy.