Fritule
Ingredients
- 500 g potatoes
- 200 g all-purpose flour
- 7 g dry yeast
- 50 ml warm water
- 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 70 ml Maraschino or rose liqueur
- 30 ml rakija or vodka
- 50 g raisins
- Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
- ¼ tsp cinnamon and ¼ tsp salt
- 1 litre sunflower or canola oil, for frying
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
Fritule are the little doughnuts of the Croatian coast, fried for Christmas Eve, Carnival and village festivals, and their Venetian cousins are the frittelle. The oldest Dalmatian recipe starts with mashed potato, which makes the fritters especially soft inside and crisp outside. Raisins plumped in Maraschino, lemon and orange zest and a shot of rakija go into a yeasted batter that is beaten hard with a wooden spoon until bubbles rise, left to double, then dropped by the teaspoon into moderate oil. They are eaten warm, heaped with powdered sugar.
Method
Soak the raisins in the Maraschino. Boil the potatoes, drain and mash them while warm.
Make a yeast sponge by mixing the yeast with the warm water, a pinch of sugar and a spoonful of the flour, and leave it for 20 minutes until bubbly.
Whisk the egg, yolk and sugar, add to the mashed potatoes and blend until smooth. Mix in the raisins with their liqueur, the rakija, the yeast sponge and the citrus zests.
Season the flour with the salt and cinnamon and add it gradually while whisking, then beat the dough vigorously with a wooden spoon until bubbles appear on the surface.
Cover and leave to rise for about 1 hour until doubled in volume.
Heat the oil to a moderate, steady temperature. Using two teaspoons, drop bite-sized balls of dough into the oil in batches without crowding, stirring often, until crisp and dark golden.
Drain on paper towels and serve warm, dusted generously with powdered sugar.
