Corfu Svingoi (Σβίγγοι Κέρκυρας)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •heavy saucepan, 2.5 to 3L
• •deep heavy frying pot, 24cm
• •deep-fry thermometer
• •two teaspoons or a small 3cm scoop
• •wire rack set over a tray

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the syrup

   Put the honey, 120ml water, cinnamon stick, and lemon peel in a small saucepan. Warm gently until the honey loosens, then let it bubble quietly for 3 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, pull it off the heat, and keep it warm. Don't boil honey hard; you want its perfume, not a flat sweetness.

2. 2

   Cook the paste

   Put the 250ml water, olive oil, sugar, and salt in a heavy saucepan and bring it to a lively boil. Pull the pan off the heat, add the flour all at once, and beat hard with a wooden spoon until no dry flour shows. Return the pan to low heat and beat for 2 to 3 minutes, until the paste gathers into one clean ball and leaves a thin film on the bottom. This cooked paste is what makes svingoi svingoi: it lets the fritters puff in the oil without yeast.

   If the paste smells raw or smears wetly around the pan, give it another minute over low heat. Heavy paste makes heavy svingoi.
3. 3

   Beat in eggs

   Scrape the paste into a bowl and let it cool for 8 to 10 minutes, until warm but not hot. Beat in the eggs in four additions, working hard after each one. At first the dough will look broken, then it comes back glossy. Add the lemon zest with the last egg. The finished dough should be thick, shiny, and fall from the spoon in a slow V.

   If your eggs are very large, hold back the last spoonful until you check the texture. The dough should drop slowly, not pour.
4. 4

   Fry the puffs

   Heat 6cm of frying oil in a deep pot to 170 to 175C. Use two teaspoons to drop walnut-sized mounds of dough into the oil, 5 or 6 at a time. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes, turning them often, until they are deep gold, puffed, and crisp at the ridges. Lift them to a wire rack for half a minute while you fry the next few.

   Small is correct here. Big spoonfuls brown outside before the center opens.
5. 5

   Honey them hot

   Dip the hot svingoi into the warm honey syrup for 15 to 20 seconds, or pile them on a platter and spoon the syrup over them generously. Dust with ground cinnamon and serve at once. They should be eaten while the edges still resist your teeth and the honey gloss is fresh.

Chef Tips

• •Use honey with character, not a thin syrup with a honey label. Thyme, pine, or orange blossom all work; the choice changes the perfume, not the method.
• •Keep the oil at 170 to 175C. Too hot and the outside darkens before the center opens; too cool and the dough drinks oil. A thermometer saves guessing here.
• •Agios Spyridon's day falls during the Nativity fast, so strict households may serve other nistisima sweets as well. This Corfiot version depends on eggs; remove them and you've made a different dough.
• •Svingoi do not keep their crisp edge. Eat them hot, with coffee if you like, and don't make a plateful of extras compete with the honey.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the honey syrup up to 2 days ahead; keep it covered and warm it gently before frying.
• •The finished dough can rest covered at cool room temperature for 1 hour, or in the refrigerator for 6 hours; let it soften for 20 minutes before frying.
• •Fry and honey the svingoi at the last moment. After 30 minutes they are still good, but the crisp edge is gone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 145g)