I received a package from my mother-in-law the other day. In the package there were several vintage brocade tablecloths, napkins, some other linens, and a few crocheted doilies. They used to belong to my dear grandmother-in-law, Phyllis.
Phylis died over 10 years ago and I miss her dearly. She was a genuinely kind, loving and funny woman. She was a type of person who can make friends with anybody regardless who they are and what they stand for. Born as the oldest daughter she helped her parents raise 8 little brothers together. She was a tough lady with tender heart.
I still remember her heart-warming welcome when I was introduced to her by my husband as we were dating. She cherished the pair of hand-made Korean slippers that I gave her and I saw her wearing them every time I visited.
Phyllis loved her life and lived in full until she died of brain tumor.
I must be getting old. I used to prefer everything new and trendy. But as I get older, I get emotionally attached to things that is old and has stories in them. Some of her linens has faded spots and some parts torn. But I love it. By knowing her I know she has used those linens to entertain her family and friends numerous times.
I made donuts, which I don’t make that often. I mixed sweet potatoes with rice flour, rolled into balls, then deep fried in oil, and coated with cinnamon sugar. The very chewy, almost doughy, textures is something that you don’t find in donuts made with wheat flour.
These sweet potato rice donuts became a wonderful afternoon treat with a cup of Korean citron “tea” I had. And they looked absolutely gorgeous with a blue and white plate over my grandmother-in-law’s doily.
A quiet afternoon, with the entire house myself, a peace came to my mind as I was thinking of ‘family’ in an eternal perspective. And you know what? Happiness sometimes comes to you in a very simple and humble way. And that happiness can be doubled when a sweet treat is waiting for you at home.
My son raised his thumb up as soon as he bit into one when he came home from school. I guess that means – it is good, isn’t it?
Let’s make our donuts. Get sweet potatoes and rice flour (glutenous rice flour). You will also need a little bit of all purpose flour, too. It brings better texture.
If you need a gluten free donuts, you can omit the wheat flour.
Cook sweet potatoes in any method; boiling, steaming, microwaving, baking or simply twitching your nose if you are a wizard
Peel the potatoes and mash them without mercy.
In a large bowl combine rice flour, 1/3 cup of wheat four, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Add the mashed sweet potatoes to the rice flour, and start rubbing them together with your hand.
You will soon see them forming fine crumbs.
Add the scalding hot milk, about 3/4 cup first. The amount of milk varies depends on the moisture level of your sweet potatoes.
Mix with a spoon. Add more milk, if needed, and start kneading by hand.
Knead the dough until it forms a bread dough-like consistency, about 1 minutes. Rice doesn’t have any gluten so you don’t need to knead them long.
Roll them into 1″- 1 1/4″ size balls.
Heat oil but not overly hot. You want to fry these balls a little lower temperature than usual deep frying recipes. If the oil is too hot, it will burn the outside while the inside is still raw.
You need to roll them around in oil with a metal utensil so they can be browned evenly.
One trick I use when I am deep frying is that I tilt over my pan (I use a stir-fry pan) to collect the oil to one side. This created deeper space for oil, which means less oil is needed to cover the pan.
Keep rolling in oil, about 5 minutes, until they form a brown crust outside.
Done! Perfectly fried rice donuts. Take them out and transfer to a plate lined with paper towel to wipe out the oil residue on the surface.
BTW, do you know that rice doesn’t absorb as much oil as wheat do when deep frying? I should have taken the picture of the before and after status of oil level in the pan to show. Unlike wheat flour donuts, rice donuts will have far less oil consumption. How divine?
When the donuts are still hot, roll them in cinnamon sugar until coated evenly all over.
They are good hot, but I prefer to eat them at room temperature. The chewiness will develop better as it cools down.
Chewy, gooey, and sticky, with a crunch bite of granulated sugar…
Phyllis would have love them. She would be so impressed with me making these Korean style donuts, and… she and I would have chat for hours about pretty much anything while enjoying these goodies. I really miss her.
Well, it is getting late here. I better go to bed.
Hope you had a restful weekend. Can’t wait for Monday morning…
Ingredients
- 3/4 lb sweet potatoes, cooked and peeled
- 2 cups glutenous rice flour
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour (can omit for gluten free)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1-1 1/3 cup hot milk
- Oil for frying
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
- Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
- Mash sweet potato and add to the flour mixture and rub together until the flours become fine crumbs.
- Slowly add hot milk (1/4 cup of milk each time) to the mixture and mix together with a spoon first, then using hand bring the dough together to form a ball shape. The amount of milk depends on the moisture level of your potatoes. It should resemble the bread dough consistency.
- Make them into 1" balls with the dough. Set aside and cover with a towel.
- Heat oil in a wok or fryer over medium low temperature. Drop a few dough balls and start rolling with a metal utensil to brown them evenly, about 5 minutes. Make sure your oil is not too hot. About 145ºC is ideal temperature.
- Transfer the donuts to a plate lined with paper towel to remove extra oil on the surface. Roll them in cinnamon sugar to coat evenly all over. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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