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A Christmas staple in Robert Ortiz's native Peru, picarones make a wonderful dessert or tasty snack for a party. In this picarones recipe, the sweets are made from pumpkin and sweet potato purée, flavoured with aniseed and served with chancaca syrup, made from grated raw sugar and honey.
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Cut the pumpkin into large chunks and place into the oven with the whole sweet potato. Cook until soft and tender for approximately 60-75 minutes but do not allow to colour
Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly, then remove and discard the skin. Separately, add the soft pumpkin and sweet potato to a ricer or mouli and pass through until smooth - the purées will be used for step 5
4
Reduce the oven temperature to 76°C
5
Dissolve the yeast in the water with the sugar and salt. Measure out 300g of the sweet potato purée and 300g of pumpkin purée, then add to a bowl with the flour, anise seeds and eggs, blending and mixing well to form a dough. Place in the fridge to rest for 1 hour
Use a mandoline to slice the blue potatoes as thinly as possible. Lay out onto a baking tray lined with white parchment paper and sprinkle with icing sugar. Cover with another sheet of parchment and bake in the oven for 2 hours
Meanwhile, make the chancaca honey. Combine the grated chancaca with the remaining ingredients in a pan. Boil for approximately 20 minutes until it reaches a syrupy consistency, then whisk well and pass through a fine sieve
To form the picarones, rub your hands with a little oil (this will stop them sticking to the dough) and form small balls of the dough. Deep-fry in the oil at 160°C until golden brown, then turn over so they achieve a nice even colour. Drain on kitchen paper and drizzle with the chancaca syrup
Robert Ortiz is a pioneer of Peruvian cuisine, bringing the heady flavours and bright colours of his native country to an appreciative European audience.
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Picarones, chancaca honey and fresh cheese
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