Recipe prepared by Dana Burlacu Visternicu, founder of prajituricisialtele.ro:
For a very long time I've wanted to try the recipe for boiled papanasi made from cottage cheese. That's because I grew up with those fried papanasi and then rolled in sour cream and jam, and the boiling method intrigues me a little. Anyway, I found out about it quite late.
Initially, it seemed a bit strange to me, but now that I've tested the recipe, I can say that boiled papanasi are really good.
In addition, of course, they are even healthier because they don't require frying.
The recipe is inspired by Silvia Jurcovan's cookbook.
Step by step preparation of boiled papanasi made with cottage cheese
Dough ingredients:
- 250g cottage cheese
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- 30g semolina
- 30g flour
- 50g butter
- 70g breadcrumbs
- 1 sachet vanilla sugar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Melinis with rose (honey with rose petals)
Preparation method:
The cottage cheese, well crumbled with the back of a fork, is mixed with the whole egg, grated lemon zest, semolina and flour until when it is homogenized.
On a wooden board, make two rolls from this dough, which are well floured. Each roll is cut with a sharp knife into slices about 3cm thick.
Each piece is floured and lightly rounded. Press each papanas with your finger to form a small indentation about halfway down. This will help the papanas cook more quickly.
Fill a 2-2.5 l saucepan with water, adding a teaspoon of salt. When the water is boiling, add the papanas and then use a spatula to move them around so they don't stick to the bottom of the saucepan.
The papanas should simmer over low heat for about 6-7 minutes, then turn off the heat and put the lid on. They will stay in the hot water for another 5 minutes. During this time, the semolina swells and the papanas become very tender and fluffy.
The breadcrumbs are fried in butter until lightly browned, then mixed with vanilla sugar and sugar.
The papanas are removed with a slotted spoon, 2-3 at a time, drained well of water and sprinkled (I would say rolled) with breadcrumbs.
They are served warm and for a greater treat I added some Melinis with rose to serve. Rose melinis is one of the most surprising honey-based products. It has a charming, rich and delicate aroma of the Damascus rose.
The production process involves the use of a technology that allows the combination of fresh rose petals with natural acacia honey, the ingredients merging at temperatures below 35˚C, the result being a unique product on the market, healthy and tasty, which preserves the natural qualities of the ingredients.
Get cooking!