Malasada, Hawaii's Most Cherished Snack!

Mmm. . . Hot and fresh fried doughnuts covered in sugar! Yeah yeah yeah, I know it's not exactly healthy but hey, it's hot and fresh fried doughnuts covered in sugar! ;)

Let me start off by saying that the use of the word "doughnut" is used lightly. There are some people who would argue that it's not a doughnut, but I'd rather not use the term "fried balls," and giggle every time I type it out. With that aside, let's get this thing started!

If you've ever been to Hawaii, there's a high chance that you've tried a malasada! In addition to being a local favorite, it's huge on the tourist To-Do list. This is good and bad at the same time. Good for Leonard's Bakery, the ONLY place to get your malasada fix when you're on Oahu, but bad for locals who now have to wait in a ridiculously huge line just to get a box of these delicious morsels. And don't get me wrong, the long lines are not a deterrent, just an irritant. You can't stop a hungry local from getting whatever they crave! If you don't believe me, just try it and see what happens!

Growing up I didn't get this as much as I wish I had but that probably added to the reason why I love it so much now days. Unfortunately, where I currently live there is not a single place to get it. Well, at least not as good as Leonard's! On the bright side, I love to cook, so finding a recipe similar and tweaking it to my liking wasn't too hard. Ok, I lied, it was hard! But like I said, you can't stop a hungry local!

I started by searching online for malasada recipes. I found a bunch, most of which claimed was "Leonard's" recipe, but by looking at the ingredients I can usually tell the outcome of the finish product. After scouring around the net and finding a few recipes, I eventually landed on a couple I wanted to try. They didn't come out quite like I wanted it, or should I say not quite like Leonard's, but they were good. With a lil bit of dis and a lil less of dat I was eventually able to land on the recipe I liked. I like it so much that I actually am not gonna give it out! =) But what I will give out is the actual Leonard's Bakery Malasada recipe that was provided by their very own chef, Leonard Rego, via the Food Network. I know you probably thought I was gonna give out my recipe but the fact is that I want people to go out and try new things, then tweak it to your liking! The only way to get good at anything is repetition. It took me several tries, with the exact same ingredients and measurements, to perfect my recipe. I encourage you to do the same. 

Malasada

By Leonard Rego, via The Food Network

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoon dry active yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar plus 1/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, well beaten
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• Cinnamon-sugar for coating (about 1/4 cup sugar mixed with cinnamon to taste)
  
  Preparation:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the yeast with 1/4 cup lukewarm water and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Mix until the yeast dissolves then set aside for 5 minutes. Stir in the milk, vanilla, eggs, and butter and reserve.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour with 1/3 cup sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the yeast and milk mixture into the well. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, forming a soft, smooth dough. Cover the dough with a clean towel and set aside to rise in a warm place until dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
3. Punch the dough down, then with oiled fingers, pinch off pieces about the size golf balls. Place the dough balls on greased baking sheets. Cover the malasadas with a clean towel and set aside to rise in a warm place for about 15 minutes.
4. In a heavy, high-sided pot, heat a bout 2 inches of oil over medium-high until the oil reaches 325 degrees F. Working in small batches, fry the malasadas until they are uniformly golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes per batch. Drain the malasadas on a plate lined with paper towels just until they are cool enough to handle then roll them in cinnamon sugar and serve.

I used a large outdoor propane heated wok to fry them since I was making semi-large quantities (good or bad outcome, I wanted to eat a lot of them). For this particular recipe I would advise you to use a clean wet towel, rather than dry towel, let the second rise last about 30 minutes or more, instead of 15 minutes, and be ready to get somewhat messy. The dough should be really soft and smooth, making it difficult to work with, without practice. Also be sure to adjust rise times according to your environment. I live in an area that's HOT during the summer and COLD during the winter, meaning shorter rise times in summer and longer rise times in winter. Ideally you want a warm kitchen, or room, to let your dough rise. To see a glimpse of how it's done, here's a video of malasada's being made at Leonard's, courtesy of KITV:

Here are some pictures of the ones I made. You'll see that the dough will tend to float in the oil at exactly the halfway mark of the malasada. When it's ready to flip, you can just nudge it with a wooden spoon, or whatever you're using, and it will flip over to fry the opposite side. It's quite easy and fun to do, just be careful not to splash hot oil around.

When you remove the malasadas to briefly drain, you'll notice that it seems hard/crispy and un-doughnut like. Don't freak out! It's natural for it to be like that at first. Once you let it sit for a bit, it quickly becomes soft (assuming you did it correctly). 

After a quick drain, roll it around in sugar and that's it! Serve it up while it's still hot! 

It's not an easy recipe and it takes time to master, but the benefits far outweigh any reason not to learn this recipe. Once perfected, you can do fundraisers, parties, birthdays and more. Especially if, like me, you live in the mainland. Good local recipes are hard to come by despite being in high demand!

Try this recipe and tell me what you like or didn't like. Feel free to contact me with questions too!

Peace & Poi,

Dis Hungry Hawaiian