makes
12
prep
30 minutes
cook
20 minutes
difficulty
Easy
makes
12
serves
preparation
30
minutes
cooking
20
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
Ingredients
- 500 g (3½ cups) plain flour
- 2 tbsp self-raising flour
- 1 jumbo egg (80g)
- ½ tsp bicarbonate soda
- ½ cup Greek natural yoghurt
- 200 g cottage cheese
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- pinch of salt
- oil, for frying (see Note)
- Sour cream and honey
Instructions
1. Sift the flour onto a clean dry surface and keep a handful aside for dusting. Make a well in the centre and crack an egg into the well.
2. Combine the bicarbonate soda and yoghurt in a separate bowl and mix. Fold in the cottage cheese and sour cream, and then add this mixture to the flour and egg and combine well. The dough should be supple and not too tacky. Use the handful of flour you’ve set aside to adjust if you find that the dough is too wet.
3. Knead the dough until smooth, then halve. Roll each half into about 1cm in thickness. Cut into long strips about 3-4cm wide.
4. Heat 2cm of oil in a large frypan over medium-high heat. The oil is hot enough when a test piece of dough rises within 30 secs and doesn’t crumple to the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 5-6 minutes on each side, until golden brown and nicely puffed.
5. For a sweeter hit, serve with sour cream and honey, but you can also serve these with eggs, capsicum relish or grated cheese.
Note
• You can also stuff these pastries. Instead of strips, cut the dough into squares. Over low heat, cook a mixture of garlic, onion, beef mince (or any meat of your choice) until browned. Add finely diced carrot, corn and peas. Once cooked mix through one egg, pepper and curry powder to taste. Place 2 tbsp of the mixture into the dough’s centre and then fold the bottom left corner to meet the top right corner and press the edges firmly to encase the filling and create a nice triangle. Follow the usual dough frying process as explained above.
• Use any mild-flavoured oil with a high smoke point. I use vegetable or rice bran (I don’t recommend using olive oil).
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
