Mrs Vogel’s Scherben

This all started while we were having tea at Sheerin’s one evening after work. For those who don’t know Sheerin, she and her lovely husband are both colleagues and we had worked together for a few months. But since I’ve rotated and kind of moved hospitals, I don’t see Sheerin that often but we do keep in touch thru calls and sms. Since they live 3 minutes away from the hospital and are always inviting us over for a meal with “no formalities” like she always says, H and I love to see the 2 kids and chat over her tea and lots of time with food too. I always learn something new from Sheerin and she introduced me to the concept of chaat which are little savoury snacks.

That day we had little balls made of gram flour with a spicy yogurt sauce and a sweet tamarind sauce drizzled over the combination. We also had these little strips of deep fried flour and sweet carrot halwa.

 

I was flipping thru Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours and stumbled across this recipe which reminded me of the deep fried dough snacks we had at Sheerin’s. By the way, Happy Birthday ovenhaven and Tommy, we are all geminis! Zhullie (ovenhaven), here’s another recipe from the book to try.. Is it just me or does the name of this recipe sound a little rude..? Sherben.. What an interesting name for these puffed dough strips.

 

It is an easy recipe which can be made by hand in a bowl. But lazy me had put everything in the Kitchen Aid and the dough came together within minutes.

 

Here’s the recipe

Mrs Vogel’s Scherben

Adapted from Dorie’s latest book

 

1 cup plain flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teasppon salt

1 tablespoon butter

1 egg

3-4 tablespoons of cold water

 

Beat butter with sugar and salt with the paddle attachment of your mixer or in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Add in egg and beat well. Add flour and slowly add in water one tablespoon at a time till the dough comes together. Leave to rest in the fridge for an hour or overnight if preferred. Cut the dough into 2 portions and roll out paper thin. Cut into strips a knife. Leave to rest in the fridge for another hour. Deep fry in batches till golden brown and crispy. Dust with icing sugar and cinnamon when warm. Drizzle with good quality honey and eat immediately. Or store in an airtight container and eat in the next few days.

 

Best eaten warm. This was made on a Sunday, my only day off after working for 20 days straight. Its so nice to sleep in, wake up late, flip thru cookbooks, watch a movie on the computer with H and do nothing at all but stay at home.