food, travels, connections and deep fried ‘Hvorost’ for Chanukah

24 November 2023

Hvorost. Photo credit - Marcin Floryan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Article by Debra Brunner, CEO of The Together Plan

I spent three weeks in October travelling! The first leg was Poland for a week of intensive learning, networking and strategy building with fellow Route Managers working across Europe to build a travelling trail known as the European Route of Jewish Heritage. Our workshops and visits were focused in Warsaw and Lublin (you can read more here). As the granddaughter of Polish immigrants there were many opportunities to feel connections but undoubtedly food was right up there. Visits to restaurants serving authentic Jewish dishes of course had me sending photos of the menus to my mum as we reminisced over WhatsApp about our favourites, conjuring up memories of family gatherings of days gone by with steaming bowls of chicken soup with kreplach, gefilte fish made by my Bubba and herring in many different forms from pickled to shmaltz to chopped.

A week later I was in the USA, mostly based in Manhattan and Philadelphia for meetings and to build connections for our USA charity/non-profit partner Jewish Tapestry Project. Here again, I found myself surrounded by Jewish influences, and of course the wonderful Jewish foods found in restaurants and homes transported by Jews who brought their recipes with them on the many waves of immigration to the ‘land of the free and home of the brave’ in search of a safer life. I had the privilege of meeting with Stephen Ludsin, the only child of a survivor to serve on the President’s Commission on the Holocaust and the first U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. He chose the meeting spot and it was a winner – Barney Greengrass on Mahattan’s Upper West Side. We bonded over steaming hot, crunchy freshly fried latkes and cheese blintzes with lashings of sour cream and apple sauce and that was just the beginning! You can read one of Steve Ludsin’s many articles here.

It was in Philadelphia where I had the conversation with Sofia Dobkin, the daughter of Polina Dobkina*, survivor of the Minsk Ghetto, about the power of food as a connector and she shared with me tales of a great family favourite ‘Hvorost’. It turned out that we had much to discuss as this was indeed a similar favourite in my family but we called it ‘Reselekh’. It was a regular at the table in the days when my Polish Bubba was alive and something I encouraged my mother to recreate recently. You can click here for the family story and mum’s recipe.

So, with Chanukah almost upon us – I felt compelled to share ‘Hvorost’ with you, thanks to Sofia Dobkin in Philadelphia, as it is sweet, crunchy and deep-fried in oil! Most chanukah tables will be filled with latkes and doughnuts, so here is a great alternative or indeed addition!! A personal thank you to Sofia for the warm hospitality and care when I was in Philadelphia.

Hvorost or Angel Wings

Angel wings are a traditional sweet crisp pastry made out of dough that has been shaped into thin twisted ribbons, deep-fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Common to many European cuisines, angel wings have been incorporated into other regional cuisines (such as American cuisine) by immigrant populations.

In Belarus they are known as ушчы (chruščy) or фаворкі (favorki)

You can watch a video of how to make Hvorost by clicking here.

Ingredients:

Eggs 2

Vodka 2 tablespoons

Sugar 2 tablespoons

Flour 250g

Salt 2 pinches

Oil for frying 1 cup

Icing sugar/powdered sugar 3 tablespoons

Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the 2 tablespoons of sugar and the 2 pinches of salt.

Add the 2 tablespoons of vodka. The dough will become crispy and form bubbles when it is flying because of the vodka. Mix all the ingredients well using a whisk.

Add the flour in portions, whisk it in and then add more, bit by bit. Then mix with your hands when the dough is thick enough and bring it to a ball.

Cover the dough and put it into the fridge for 10-15 minutes.

On a floured surface and using a knife cut the dough into 4 quarters. Cover the dough you are not using so it doesn’t dry out.

Roll one quarter of the dough into a thin layer.

Then cut into strips 2-4cm long and create a cut in the centre of each piece and turn it inside out through the centre. You can make them large or small (I recommend watching the video above to see how to do this).

Making Hvorost

Add oil to the pan and fry on a medium heat. Put the doughstrips in when the oil is hot. The strips grow in size so don’t add too many at a time.

Flip the strips over when cooked on one side. The vodka will disappear from the high temperature. Cook until golden brown.

Remove the strips from the pan onto a plate with kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.

Put the strips onto a plate and sprinkle with icing/powdered sugar

Recipe and video courtesy of Taste of Russia

Hvorost. Photo credit – Marcin Floryan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons