Daring Bakers: Doughnuts

Kuih keria

I have a love-FEAR relationship with doughnuts. Having been badly burnt after a frying churro (Mexican doughnut) exploded and splashed hot oil onto my face, neck and chest, one tends to get a little nervous around a pot filled with boiling oil.


And so it was with some trepidation that I read the October Daring Bakers' challenge. In fact, I actually started to laugh... a sign of anxiety, I think. Well, here's the brief:

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Like I said, I love doughnuts. I've even written a cover story (left) for my newspaper in praise of these confections. I so wanted to take part in this challenge properly and try out all the recipes Lori had lined up. The day after I read about it, I went out and bought some sweet potato because I knew I had to make the Malaysian kuih keria, or sweet potato doughnuts.

And despite the deep-frying, I had every intention of following up with an oven-baked cake doughnut and a raised doughnut.

But good intentions or not, sometimes you are just overwhelmed with things that crop up. Lots to do in life ­­– I'm preparing for a course I am taking ­­– and at work ­­– the boss is hounding me for a story I have been sitting on for over a month ­­– and so all I could manage was the sweet potato doughnut.

I'll take a bite of that

It's not difficult to make and a proper recipe is hardly necessary. Peel some sweet potato (the orange ones are prettier for this), cut into chunks and steam until tender; mash until smooth. Mix in sugar to taste and enough sifted all-purpose flour until a soft dough forms. If you can find tapioca flour, substitute a third of the all-purpose flour with it as it makes the doughnut more springy. Form into rings and deep-fry.

The doughnuts are usually coated with a thick sugar syrup which hardens in clumps, but here I have simply dredged them with icing sugar.