Peruvian donate recipe (Picarones)

Peruvian Donate Recipe- Picarones

Picarones (for 6 people)

For the dough

    250  g      flour

    125  g      pumpkin

    125  g      sweet potato

        2  tsp.  anise

        7  g      dry yeast or

      20  g      fresh yeast

For the sauce

      80  g      block of sugar molasses or

    120  ml    sugar syrup (or maple syrup)

        1         cinnamon stick

        3         cloves

optional:      green fig leaves or dried figs

Vegetable oil for frying

Preparation:

1. Peal the pumpkin and the sweet potatoes and cut into some pieces.

2. Boil them in a pot together with 1 cup of water and the anise for about 30 minutes.

3. Wait until it has cooled down. Put the content of the pot into the blender until you get a smooth mass. Put the mass into a bigger bowl.

4. Dissolve the yeast in 2tbs of water and add to the bowl.

5. Add the flour and knead the dough until you get a homogeneous mass. Put a towel over the bowl, put it on a warm place and wait for 1 or 2 hours.

6. Meanwhile prepare the sauce in a small pot:

First cut the sugar into smaller pieces and put into the pot. Add one cup of water, the cinnamon, cloves and the fig leaves.

7. Cook the content for at least 30 minutes on low fire until all the sugar is dissolved. The sauce should have the texture of honey.

8. Heat some vegetable oil in a saucepan (at least 1cm) or in a deep fryer.

9. Make your hand wet in a bowl with water and salt and take 2 or 3 tbs. of the dough using four fingers of your hand (fingers except the thumb). Make a hole into the dough using your thump so that it forms a ring. Put the mass into the saucepan slowly.

10. Fry for about two minutes on each side and put on a paper towel.

11. Serve 3-4 rings and pour the sauce over it.