Boobalars with Grandma Joan

What’s a Boobalar?

I know what you’re thinking. Boobalar is what Jewish Grandmother’s call their grand kids as they hug them and squeeze their chubby cheeks. Well it is, but it’s also the name of these delicious treats. I have searched high and low and scoured Google to find out what the real/ Jewish name is for these yummy Boobalars but I couldn’t find them anywhere. If you know what they are called please pop a comment below and end my curiosity! Thanks

Channuka

Yesterday was the last day of Channuka.  Each year we take it in turns to host our family gathering and this year we met up at my brother’s house. The grown-ups do the Channuka Armadillo (our version of Secret Santa meets Ross from Friends!) and the kids get presents from everyone and of course we light our Menorahs (candle holders).

It’s traditional to eat fried food during Channuka to remind us of the oil that kept the everlasting light burning in the temple in days of old. The traditional cake for Channuka is donuts.  I tried to make donuts a few years ago when we were hosting at my house – lets just say I’ve never lived it down and I am still trying to remove the concrete like batter from my hob to this day! So, yesterday my mum made bubbalars (pronounced boo-bah-lars) for us all. They are seriously yummy, or as my four-year old nephew Asher kept saying when he was eating them “Yummy in my tummy!”

They are a kind of dounut but a bit softer and squidgier and taste amazing when you eat them hot out of the pan. We tear them up and dip the pieces in cinnamon flavoured sugar. I decided to take snap shots as Mum made them so I could share them with you. The only problem was that mum can make them without measuring anything out (She’s a proper Jewish mum!!) So, I had to make some more this morning so I could  measure the ingredients out and I could share them with you. Well really I wanted some more but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Ingredients

(Makes 12 Boobalars)

2 eggs

225ml water

110g matzo meal (this is fine crumbs made from Matzo crackers. It’s available in Waitrose or from Ocado)

300ml sunflower oil (or enough that the Boobalars will float in your pan)

30g granulated sugar

1 tea spoon cinnamon

How to make Boobalars

Crack open the eggs into a bowl and add the water. My mum watches to see how it looks to get the right consistency. I measure everything!

Mix up the water and eggs till they are well blended.

Add the matzo meal and mix until it forms a fluid batter.

Heat the oil in a pan. This is where my brother was very proud of his Alessi saucepan. I used a deep frying pan today which cooked them much quicker. Either will do the job just make sure you use plenty of oil so the Boobalars don’t touch the bottom.

When the oil is hot carefully place a spoonful of batter into the oil.

Use two spoons – one heaped with the batter and the other to encourage it off the spoon.

Leave them to bubble away. They only take a few minutes on each side. Mum’s one’s popped over by themselves when they were ready but mine didn’t (probably due to the differences in the amount of oil they were in) Turn them over when they look slightly cooked at the edges. Take care not to over cook them or they become very heavy. They should be golden brown.

Mum swears by placing deep-fried food (including her amazing fish balls) to drain  in an old egg carton. They suck up the excess oil much better than kitchen paper. She has a stack of them in her kitchen cupboard at the ready. You can always use kitchen paper on a plate though.

To make the dipping sugar simply place the cinnamon in a bowl with the sugar and mix it with a spoon. We always add tons of cinnamon as we love it!

Now all that’s left to do is tear them up, dip them in the cinnamon sugar and enjoy.

We set the kids up on Sara’s little table and they all gobbled their Boobalars right up. It was actually difficult to get them to stop eating in order to take this picture.

Beau and Darcey with their cousins Sara and Asher. Note there are no Boobalars left on the serving plate!

The Whole family

I couldn’t resist sharing with you the family picture we took at the end of the day. I love celebrating with my family. We do it often and there is always food and fun involved!

Enjoy!