Kosovan Dessert and Interstellar Space Travel

Kosovan Dessert

LLOKUMA

INGREDIENTS

1 large egg
1 cup plain yogurt
⅓ cup sparkling water.
1 tablespoon baking powder
3⅓ cups flour (2 more tablespoons later)
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups vegetable oil (or as needed to make a ⅓” deep layer of oil in pan)

Makes 48 pieces. Takes 1 hour 10 minutes.

PREPARATION

Add egg to 1st mixing bowl. Beat egg with whisk. Add yogurt. Whisk until well blended. Add sparkling water and baking soda. Whisk again until well blended. Add 3½ cups flour, baking powder, and salt to large 2nd mixing bowl. Mix with whisk. Add egg/yogurt/baking soda mixture from 1st mixing bowl. Knead with hands until you have a well blended dough that doesn’t stick to your hands.. Add a little more dough if it does. Let dough sit for 30 minutes. Dust flat surface with 2 tablespoons flour. Press flour with hands or rolling pin until dough is ⅓” thick. Cut dough into 1½” squares.

Add oil to skillet until it is ⅓” deep. Heat oil using medium-high heat until a tiny piece of dough will dance in the oil. Use spatula to carefully add as many dough squares to oil that will fit without them touching each other. Flip squares as soon as they start to brown. This will take from 25-to-40 seconds and depends greatly on the heat of the oil. (Also, cooking time tends to go down a little with each successive batch, so proper vigilance is a must.) Remove when both side have turned golden brown. Repeat for following batches. Place on paper towels to remove oil. Serve hot. Goes well with yogurt dip or confectioner’s sugar.

TIDBITS

1) The interstellar space drive was developed in Kosovo right after it’s independence in 2008. Behar Krasniqi had an “ah ha” moment at breakfast and by late afternoon he’d designed a computer chip that would turn the 1967 VolkwagenTM into a mighty machine for traveling across the galaxies.

2) Krasniqi’s process required huge amounts of plums as fuel. So much so that weight had to be cut elsewhere. Fortunately, the Kosovan Space Agency (KSA) knows how to shrink its astronauts until they are three inches tall. Llokuma served both as pillows and as food. Unfortunately, on March 4, 1999, Behar’s wife, Adriana left the office window open. A wintry gust blew the computer chip off its shelf. It chip was never found. We’re not going to the stars soon. Bummer.

Chef Paulfrontcoverscan

 

Check out my latest novel, the hilarious apocalyptic thriller, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms? It’s published by HumorOutcasts and is available in paperback or Kindle on amazon.com

 

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