Fat Tuesday

This week, we celebrated our FIFTH "Fat Tuesday" in Kapsowar. We started with pancakes in 2020, quickly realized that pancakes are entirely too time consuming to make, require a lot of cleanup, and are difficult to eat outside (as necessitated by Covid in 2021), so we switched to doughnuts and haven't looked back! 

The idea of Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras, in French) was - traditionally - to use up the last of the fat and sugar stores before starting a Lenten fast. Doughnuts definitely meet that criteria! (I'm not going to write about the WHY of a Lenten fast here, but I did find a really nice article about Christian fasting at this blog: https://gravitycommons.com/how-to-fast-for-lent/  - I'm not endorsing the whole website, I don't know anything about their organization, but I really liked their explanations of why and how to fast.)

Fat Tuesday gives us an opportunity to meet with our community, talk about our experiences with Lent and Easter (some of us grew up in very "high church" backgrounds, others grew up very evangelical and have never been exposed to the church or "liturgical" calendar, many of us fall somewhere in the middle), and discuss why or how or if it is important to prepare for Holy Week and Easter. 

Here are some photos of Fat Tuesday, and Dominic's favorite doughnut recipe, inspired by reading Farmer Boy and adapted from a recipe we found online:

African Twisted Doughnuts (adapted from www.preciouscore.com)

Makes: 24 doughnuts

12 oz evaporated milk (see recipe)

2-1/2 tsp active dry yeast

3 T sugar

3 T melted butter

1 tsp salt

1 egg

4 c all-purpose flour

Cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, or glaze of your choice

1. Make evaporated milk: Boil 3-1/4 cups whole milk or shelf milk until it is reduced to 1-1/2 cups (12 oz) OR warm up 12 oz of evaporated milk (from a can) 

2. Let evaporated milk cool until it is just warm to touch. Stir in yeast, let rest for 5 minutes

3. Whisk in sugar, butter, salt and egg

4. Stir in flour with wooden spoon, then knead dough for 5-7 minutes, adding flour as needed

5. Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size

6. Roll dough out into a rectangle, then cut into 24 strips (I do mine as 2x12)

7. Create twists by rolling into "snakes" with hands moving in opposite directions. Keep twisting the dough until it twists up, then pinch off the ends (this takes a little practice the first time but it gets easier!)

8. Fry in oil at approximately 350 degrees (I just get the oil hot until it forms bubbles around a small piece of dough when dropped in), turning after about 1-2 minutes

9. Roll in cinnamon sugar immediately, or sprinkle with powdered sugar after cooled, or try a glaze