Sweet Potato Loukoumades

Sweet potato loukoumades is a very unconventional take on the traditional Greek doughnut known as loukoumades.

After a few hectic weeks of dealing with some personal issues (and another bout of severe sinusitis), I'm ready to begin sharing some recipes.

How about we start off with some Greek doughnuts?

Or "loukoumades" as they are called in Greek.

By now you've probably worked out that I can not leave any recipe alone. I tinkered with the traditional loukoumades recipe just slightly…

After a few hectic weeks of dealing with some personal issues (and another bout of severe sinusitis), I'm ready to begin sharing some recipes.

How about we start off with some Greek doughnuts?

Or "loukoumades" as they are called in Greek.

By now you've probably worked out that I can not leave any recipe alone. I tinkered with the traditional loukoumades recipe just slightly…

This Greek classic gets a slight makeover with the addition of roasted sweet potatoes and spelt flour.

And please don't be fooled by the pics. They might look like giant alien droppings but I can assure you they are tasty morsels of deep fried goodness!

And speaking of deep fried, I'm generally not a fan of this cooking method. But I made an exception for these beauties!

Which brings me to my next point. BE VERY CAREFUL with deep frying. The traditional technique for making these involves squeezing the batter out of the palm of your hand. I stupidly forgot about the "splash back" and ended up with four burn marks and blisters on my wrist!

Use a regular dessert spoon (dipped in oil) to drop spoonfuls of the dough into the oil. Much safer and better for your skin.

Surprisingly, the sweet potato added a nice lightness to these and combined with the honey and cinnamon was a real winner.

Make these as a special treat, serve with some traditional Greek coffee and watch them get devoured.

Sweet Potato Loukoumades Recipe

Makes approx. 20 doughnuts

Ingredients:

• 1 x 8 gr sachet (packet) dried yeast
• ¼ cup warm water PLUS 1 extra cup
• 1 tablespoon honey PLUS 1 cup extra for drizzling
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cups white spelt flour
• 1 cup roasted sweet potato flesh
• rice bran oil for deep frying
• cinnamon for dusting

Instructions:

1. Combine the yeast, ¼ cup warm water and honey in a large bowl. Whisk to combine, cover with plastic wrap and allow to activate and bubble for 10-15 mins.
2. Add the sea salt, olive oil, flour, extra cup of water and sweet potato and mix well until you have a thick batter. Cover again with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for approx. 1 hour until doubled in size.
3. Preheat 1 litre of rice bran oil in a deep fryer or medium sized pot until the temperature reaches 180 deg C on a thermometer.
4. Drop in spoonfuls (using a dessert spoon or soup spoon is fine) of the batter cooking a maximum of 3 doughnuts at a time. Cook for 3-4 mins until golden and crispy. Drain on paper towels and drizzle with honey and dust with cinnamon.
5. Repeat with the remaining batter until all doughnuts have been made. Serve immediately.