Indonesian Style Donuts

Yesterday I learned how to make donuts Indonesian style. A friend of mine Ibu Jameela taught me about this particular recipe. It all came up after a casual conversation about Malaysian - Indonesian culinary, then she said "eh aku kepingin donut indonesia disini donutnya ringan bangat kaya ngak punya isi.." (I long for indonesian donuts, here the donuts are too light feels as if no substance) i was naturally stunt by her statement mainly because I don't quite get what she was trying to imply. then i asked for clarification on her statement.

well according to her, where shes' come from (Bali) they make donuts with a bit of potatoes, coconut water, coconut milk... (yes there's the difference between coconut water and coconut milk, which i will explain later) together with other usual ingredients.
First i thought that she might be talking about kuih keria. Kuih keria is a Malaysian snack somewhat like donuts made almost entirely with potatoes.(kuih experts pls correct me if i'm wrong) so i brought her to a street stall nearby where they sells variety of snaks, and showed her the 'kuih keria' but she laughed and said "what is this?" and i was like your donuts lah! she then explains that the donuts that she meant was actually exactly like the usual normal donuts!

she explains, the donuts is the same like any other donuts its just that 'her' donuts is 'fortified' (yes thats her word) with potatoes and coconut goodness, and thats why the donuts will be fluffy yet fulfilling at the same time because of the potatoes, its especially great for breakfast....and i was so enlighten by her description that i want to know how to make it! then i ask why not just make it? she further explained her recipe is for a kilo which means that it'll yield more than her craving requirement. i then suggested to her to make just half the recipe and if its still too much I would willing to take on half to serve my family so no wastage!

then we went to the wet market and get the coconut water and coconut milk. it amazes me that she makes the dough without any sort of measurements to the ingredients and the dough turned out just right. She told me that she used to help her mom to make a whole lot of kuih (indonesian desserts and snacks) to sell. she said that she was poor and every penny earned with blood,sweat and tears. Things turned around after she got married to a 'business man' from Jakarta at age 20. Now her husband passed away and she inherited the wealth, been a widow ever since. I was just happy for her food knowledge...which i intend to learn if she let me.

anyway...here's the 'estimated' recipe. but remember the general rule of making bread dough.
1- the dough should not be too stiff nor to runny/sticky or what not - nothing to the extreme. it SHOULD be soft, not sticky. as soft as your lower part of your ear. - this would mean the liquid part of the recipe is a plus minus depending of the dough consistency, but i will try my best to give accurate estimation?
2- you know that the dough is right when you knead them, it no longer stick to your hands and the bowls.
3- knead well, knead well, knead until elastic!


here's what you need:

500g flour - all purpose flour or bread flour
1/2tsp salt.
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla essence
1/4c sugar
1/2c coconut water (this is a plus minus ingredient please estimate according to your dough consistency)
2tbsp coconut milk
1tsp instant yeast
3 cooked reasonably large potatoes - mashed smoothly

1- combine eggs, vanilla, sugar, salt, coconut milk, mashed potatoes and yeast mix well.

2- then mix in the flour, it will start forming a dough. keep mixing then slowly and gradually add in the coconut

water. mix until you get a soft dough that you can knead. if its too soft just add in a bit of flour but if too

stiff, add more coconut water.

3- then knead the dough well until elastic. we didn't use mixer so what we did was we divide the dough into

2 and knead them separately and we also literally toss the dough around on the kneading table literally to

speed up the kneading process. (if you have mixer JUST use it!its tiring this way) keep kneading until its

smooth and elastic.

4- then let the dough rest and expend for 30-45 minutes or so in a warm place. then punch the expended

dough and knead again then make them into a small balls. then let them rest again for 10-15 minutes

5- then you can start punching a hole in the middle of the balls to make the donut shape and fry them.

6- you can serve them with sugar glaze or choc or jam or what not its yummy and filling. I have them with nutella spread! YUM!

TIPS:
a) its best to mash the potatoes when they are hot. the mashed potatoes will be smoother paste.
b) basic bread guide is applicable in this recipe.

make little balls....

this is how she make the balls...looks easy huh? (FYI thats not my hands, its ibu jameela's)

must make sure that the balls are smooth or it'll break when proofing/frying.

c) regarding the coconut water, its the water from the coconut when you break the fruit not from when extracting it from its flesh, that's coconut milk. the coconut water need not be from a young coconut, it does not matter. According to Ibu Jameela, the coconut water is a fluffing agent for the dough.

really rustic looking donuts

the beautiful glaze harden after a while, it gives you a nice shell...to make glaze just add water to icing sugar until you get a ribbon-ish consistency, then you can either brush on the donuts or just dip it. You can flavor the glaze with a tsp of lemon juice or vanilla essence - its optional....me? i just spread nutella on top and start munching.

glazed donuts yum~

these are how the donuts actually look like under a natural hot sunlight ...not bad huh? no molds required, yet it looks decent.