Fried Romanian Cheese Doughnuts with Sour Cream and Cherry Jam

What you need

• 250 g (9 oz) farmer's cheese, dry and crumbly; drain cottage cheese well if using it
• 1 large egg
• 40 g (3 tbsp) sugar
• 1 lemon zest, from 1 lemon, finely grated
• 1 pinch salt
• 100 g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
• 30 g (3 tbsp) semolina
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 l (4 cups) neutral oil, for deep frying
• 150 g (2/3 cup) sour cream, cold
• 80 g (1/4 cup) sour cherry jam, or blueberry jam

Method

Restated from the original video

1. 1

   Mash the farmer's cheese in a bowl with a fork until no large lumps remain.

2. 2

   Beat in the egg, sugar, zest and salt.

3. 3

   Mix the flour, semolina and baking powder, then stir them into the cheese just until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms. Do not knead, or the doughnuts turn tough.

4. 4

   Leave the dough to rest for 10 min so the semolina swells.

5. 5

   Pour the oil into a deep, heavy pot and heat it to 170 °C (340 °F).

6. 6

   Flour your hands and the work surface. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and pinch off about a fifth of each one.

7. 7

   Shape each large piece into a thick ring about 7 cm (3 in) across by poking a hole through the middle, and roll each small piece into a ball.

8. 8

   Lower 2 rings into the hot oil and fry 3-4 min per side, until deep golden. Fry the balls for 2-3 min, turning them often.

9. 9

   Lift everything out onto paper towels. Break one ring open to check: if the center is still raw, the oil was too hot, so lower the heat for the next batch.

10. 10

    Set a warm ring on each plate, fill the hole with sour cream and spoon more over the top.

11. 11

    Set a ball on the sour cream and spoon the jam over everything. Serve right away.

Imported from cookcard.org. Recipe Grab pulled out what you need to cook it; the video stays where its author put it.