sa-ta- andagi

Andagi is Okinawan's doughnut. It is like a cake donut in ball-form.

In Hawaii, with our diverse cultures, we are lucky and can eat both malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts) which are made from yeast, and andagi (Okinawan doughnuts) which like I said, are like cake donuts.

Since the weather has been on the cooler side, I figured that I wouldn't be able to make a yeast based dough, so I decided to try making andagi.

My overall problem was trying to keep the temperature at 150C (300F) to 160C (320F) on a candy thermometer.

In the end, most of the andagi got brown (some black) very quickly and the insides weren't cooked.

Not wanting to trash them, I stuck everything into the oven and baked them at 150C (300F) for about 30 minutes.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try:
Sa-ta- andagi translated from "Obaa no sukina Okinawa chura ryoori" : makes about 15

300 grams flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 medium eggs
200 grams sugar
1 tablespoon oil
oil for frying

1. Sift flour and baking powder, set aside
2. In another bowl, add the egg and sugar and mix without beating or adding air.
3. Put the dry into the wet, stirring as you go along, and when 80% of the dry has gone in, add the oil.
4. Mix well and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in refrig for 30 minutes.
5. Heat oil to 150C (300F) to 160C (320F)
6. With a spoon scoop some batter then with wet hands, roll into a ball about 3 or 4 centimeters in diameter, then put into oil.
7. When frying a little "crack" in it may form, this is okay.
8. Poke with a bamboo skewer to check if done.

NOTES: In Hawaii, we call them "andagi" but in Okinawa they are known as "sah-tah-ahn-dah-ghi"...In Okinawan, "sa-ta-" is the word for sugar, "anda" means oil and "agi" means to fry.

I have often helped fry these but never made the batter myself.

I didn't roll the batter in wet hands because I was somehow afraid of having the oil splatter, plus the dough was really thick and sticky and I thought trying to roll it would make a big mess.

I also didn't have a bamboo skewer to test. I guess I could've used a chopstick but thought the hole would've been kind of big.

Like I said, I had problems with the temperature of the oil and most were uncooked, so I put everything into the oven to bake.

Texture-wise, these were good and I liked that it was not too sweet.

Next time I make these, I'm going to make them smaller so they cook more evenly, and maybe I'll use my hands like the recipe suggests.