Vegan Faworki - Polish Treat for Fat Thursday

 Faworki (read: fhavorky) are Polish treats for Fat Thursday, which is today. 

I have made them and posted before [---> HERE] but today's version is completely VEGAN, which is rather unusual for faworki. 

In most of the Christian communities, before Lent, there is always a massive celebration of eating fatty and sweet food. And mostly it is Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (—> the first day of Lent). But, for some reason, in Poland (and I think in Germany as well?) the Pancake day=Shrove Tuesday is moved to Thursday. 

Whatever the days or circumstances the most important thing is, that we have an excuse to make faworki or doughnuts.

Doughnuts you can get almost everywhere, but faworki are are abroad, but massively popular in Poland. 

Faworki are light and crispy. So light that there is no guilt in eating the whole batch at once. Because of their appearance and that snap when you take a bite, they are also called “dry twigs” or “brushwood” (chrust in Polish).

But enough of that. Let’s get cooking before Thursday ends.

What you need?

300g plain flour (fine cake flour is best)

1/4 tsp of salt

3 Tbsp sunflower oil

2 Tbsp thick yogurt ( vegan coconut yogurt in my case)

1 Tbsp white vinegar or clear drinking spirit (so the dough won’t soak up cooking oil during frying);

100ml unsweetened soya milk [works best, but you could try with different milk]

about 1/2 l of frying oil [sunflower works well]

How to?

1. add flour, salt, 3 Tbsp of sunflower oil and yogurt into the bowl and start mixing with your fingers until all resembles breadcrumbs. 

2. add vinegar and milk and knead. The dough will be soft and sticky to start with, but it will get nice and pliable after 1-2 minutes of kneading. Cover and keep refrigerated for about 1/2 - 1 hour. Let it rest.

3. roll the dough with the rolling pin [or a bottle?!] until is about 2 mm thin. The dough is so pliable that you should not need to use any flour for dusting, this prevents faworki and oil from burning. [flour in hot oil burns quickly]. 

Cut into rectangles [2.5x10 cm, but it is a rough guide. They can be bigger or smaller, so do not get stressed with measuring it 😄]. Cut a small slit in the middle of each rectangle. This enables us to make the famous unique faworki look. Weave one end of the rectangle through that slit. 

[check pictures below or video on my Instagram HERE]. 

4. heat up about 1/2 l of frying oil in the pan and fry faworki in batches [5-8, depends on the size of your pan] for about 20 seconds on each side. Careful - do not burn them! Take them out with a slotted spoon and place on the kitchen paper to remove any excess of cooking oil. 

5. dust them with some powdered [icing] sugar and serve!

enjoy! 😘