Making Borsok

In honor of our Kyrgyz friends, I am attempting to make borsok tonight--a traditional fried bread, somewhat like a plain donut or fried dough you might see at a carnival in the US.

In Kyrygzstan, most meals began with these lovely little 'pillows' in a heap on the floor cloth, with fresh honey and jams to dip them in.

Here is a recipe I gleaned from the web and with a little help from Nurjan.

Borsok
2 cups of flour
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon yeast
3/4 cup warm (not hot!) milk
1 egg
1/2 cup neutral flavored oil

Combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the egg together with the warmed milk. Stir the wet into the dry with a wooden spoon until the mixture holds together but is not sticky. Cover the mixture and place it in a warm place for 2 hours.

Roll the dough until it is about ¼ inch thick. Cut the dough into 1 inch by 2 inch rectangles.

Pour 1/4 cup oil into a saucepan and heat on medium high. Additional oil may be needed depending on the size of the saucepan. Make sure the oil completely covers the surface of the pan.

Fry the borsok in the pan, making sure that they do not overlap. Cook until the borsok puff up and are golden brown on the bottom.

Flip the borsok over to fry the other side until it is also golden brown. Add additional oil as needed to keep a thin coat of oil on the surface of the pan.


I'll let you know how they turn out.
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Addendum: My kids pronounced them yummy. Of course they were not as good as the ones Nurjan made for us, or the ones we were served in Kyrgyzstan, but I'll keep trying.

Next time: Less salt, more sugar, an additional egg, perhaps.