Easily-made Donutty Goodness

a.k.a. Dough-balls

A Samoan sister in our branch verbally passed this recipe on to me during a branch activity. These donuts are uber-straight-forward. They can also be made without purchasing any special ingredients at low cost. Well, I guess they're not really donuts - given the fact that they're balls rather than rings.

The Samoan sister's version recipe:

"Mix some of this (holding up a bag of self-raising flour) with sugar and water, and drop in here (pointing to a pot of oil)". I share this so you get the picture of how easy these can be - I vary the recipe every time, and they haven't been botched yet.

For those who'd like a little more to go on:

1. If you're without a deep-fryer (like me), pour your frying oil of choice into a large pan so that it is 8cm deep (I used a mixture of Canola and Extra Virgin Olive Oil - the latter to add a fruity taste to the donut surface) . Heat over medium.
   
2. Half-fill a bowl with warm water (pick the bowl and volume based on your crowd);
3. Slowly add self-raising flour (make your own if you don't have any) whilst stirring to form a very thick paste. Keep going a wee way past pancake batter. The spoon should stand up on an angle, but the mixture should still be easily spooned and stirred.
   
4. Now add approximately 1 tablespoon of sugar for every cup of flour you've added - more or less to taste.
5. Test the oil's heat by dropping a small amount of your mixture in. The heat is right if the ball of batter floats and lots of bubbles are produced.
   
6. Drop large spoonfuls of batter into the oil. Some balls may need help turning over, but many will turn on their own due to the shift in uncooked batter weight. Cook until medium-brown.
7. Remove balls once they have fried on both sides using a slotted spoon. Drop onto paper towels to cool.
8. Eat them plain, or dress with an icing sugar, vanilla and milk glaze, or roll them in some cinnamon and sugar. The batch pictured has a vanilla glaze and a sprinkling of chopped nuts.
   

FYI:

• This bowl is filled with balls cut in half - as I wanted to be sure all were cooked through with no dough remaining;
  
• I was uncertain if they would still turn out just as grand because I used refrigerated batter that was one week old. I had to throw a couple away that I didn't cook long enough;
• They still tasted fantastic - meaning you can refrigerate the unused batter if required;
• I made a crazy amount of fry bread (self-raising flour and water kneaded and rolled out on a floured board) for dipping in soup a week prior, and I just added sugar to the balance for the donuts - two in one!
  
• This recipe leaves the oil very clean, so once cool, it can be poured back into a container for the next time you need to fry; and
  
• My bowl on a stand is beautiful, isn't it? I grabbed it at $5 from the NEV Sallies a while back.