Our dear friend Mara will be returning to Brazil shortly. We are so happy for her to be going home, rejoining Jamie and beginning her new life in the rainforest, but we will miss her very much.
Mara taught us all (and particularly Janie) so many things and her company gave us the greatest happiness. One thing she taught and gave us is the following recipe for "Bolhinos de Chuva" or “Balls of Rain”.
Recipe books say that these delightful fried pastries are called Balls of Rain because of their shape (round with a forelock that might remind you of Tintin's). Mara told Jane it was because they are traditionally prepared on rainy afternoons as an antidote against boredom.
Andy and Edie, our dogs, love Bolhinos de Chuva, of course. So would, I think, Claude, our cat with the sweet tooth, and the charming Brazilian toucan pictured below.
BOLHINOS DE CHUVA
Ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cup flour
1 cup water
1 ½ tbs. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract
Pinch of salt
Directions:
1. Mix the eggs with sugar in a medium bowl.
2. Add water and mix well.
3. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
4. Add little by little the eggs and sugar. Add extract.
5. Heat oil to deep frying temperature and using 2 teaspoons (or a small cookie scoop), scoop a generous teaspoon of batter and carefully drop it in hot oil, using a second spoon to help scrape the dough of the first spoon. Repeat with several more teaspoons, but do not overcrowd the bolhinos in the pan (a deep frying pan or wok both work well) or they will stick together.
6. Cook the bolhinos, turning occasionally, until golden brown on all sides.
7. Remove bolhinos from oil using slotted spoon or Chinese wire ("leaky") ladle and roll bolhinos in cinnamon sugar or sprinkle on confectioner's sugar when they have cooled slightly.
Note: Bolhinos are worth preparing in quantity. They freeze well and make a very good breakfast.
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