Racuchy… What is it? Ask Wikipedia ;)…
Please look at the images below for reference.
Ingredients:
1 litre of milk
1 kg of flour
1 egg
4 tablespoons of sugar
4 packs (28 grams total) of dry yeast (7 grams each pack)
1 pinch of salt
Oil
Few apples
Raisins
Take a BIG bowl and sieve all the flour, sugar and salt into it.
In the same time heat up HALF of the milk to a 37ºC / 98.6ºF (its a perfect temperature – use thermometer). Once the milk reaches the desired temperature take it of the stove and dissolve the yeast in it. Stir it well for a while.
Take the egg and beat it (like for scrambled eggs) in a little bowl.
To the bowl with the flour, sugar and salt add the milk with the yeast, the rest of the milk and the egg.
Mix it very well using a electric mixer.
Now at this stage there are couple of methods of “growing” the batter.
Method number one. Take a bowl with the batter, cover it with clean kitchen cloth and put it in a warm place. Wait 60 – 90 minutes.
Method number two. Take a bowl with the batter, cover it with clean kitchen cloth and put it on the kitchen worktop. Take small electric fan heater, set it to low temperature and make it blow the warm air on the bowl with the batter. Make sure that you use common sense when using electric heater. Do not set it to high temperature, do not put it to close to the bowl, do not stand it on a wet counter etc. Wait 60 – 90 minutes.
Method number three. Take a big pot, pour hot water into it, put something around the edges of the pot, put the bowl with the batter on top of the pot and cover it with a clean kitchen cloth. With this method you need to be aware of WHY do you do it and HOW does it work.
The yeast needs temperature to start farting into the mix :-). To much heat will kill the yeast so make sure that the water is hot but not to hot. It takes a bit of finesse but once you will understand the technique it will be like bipity bopity boop and you’re done.
So you pour the hot water into the pot. You know why. Now why do I want you to put something on the edges of the pot? What do I mean by something? By something I mean like 3 long wooden spoons or spatulas. They need to meet somewhere in the middle of the bottom of the pot and then the other ends of the spatulas rest on 3 points around the edges of the pot. Imagine a tripod for the camera. Upside down :-). Now for the why? Because if you put the bowl directly on top of the pot filled with hot water it will create a seal around the pot, the heat inside the bowl will create suction and what’s even worse – it will heat the batter to much and kill it. I know – it SEEMS complicated but its not.
So – big pot with hot but not too hot water, 3 wooden spatulas creating a support for the bowl, bowl with batter covered with clean kitchen cloth. Leave it for 60 to 90 minutes.
There are other techniques but most of the time you will be using one of those three. Its up to you which one you chose for yourself.
Now – you waited for at least 60 minutes and the batter is growing very very well. That’s good.
Start prepping the fruits.
Peel the apples, cut out the seeds thingy in the middle, chop apples into nice size slices. Put the sliced apples into the fridge until you’re ready to mix the fruit in.
Raisins. Throw them into a heat-resistant dish (bowl) and pour hot water on top of them. Leave them in the hot water for 2 – 3 minutes. Pour the hot water with the raisins out from the bowl into the sieve. Pour cold tap water on top of them to rinse and cool off the raisins. Throw the raisins on the paper towel to let them dry out.
Now…
Your batter has grown? Check
Your apples are sliced? Check
Your raisins are blanched? Check
Take the bowl with the batter and gently throw the apples and raisins on top of the batter. Using wooden or silicone (not metal) spoon / spatula mix the fruit into the batter. Stir clockwise only.
You are ready to start frying racuchy.
Heat up the oil on the pan. Oil cannot be too hot. You don’t want to burn the racuchy. You want to make them golden brown on the outside and fully cooked through on the inside. If oil is too hot it will burn the racuchy on the outside while they are still raw inside.
Be aware. Batter should be sticky.
You will need a fork and a spoon.
Take some batter onto a spoon and try putting it onto a frying pan. Use the fork to make the task easier. Don’t use huge amount of batter. You should fit like 5 – 7 racuchy on one frying pan – depending on the size of your pan but be aware that racuchy grow when the batter is thrown onto the oil.
Once racuchy are ready you can sprinkle them with icing sugar or serve them with jam or whipped cream.
Cheers.
Andrzej
