Flat fritters of wheat flour and aguapanela, dropped into a pan by the spoonful and fried in ten minutes. Four ingredients you already have.
Aguapanela, not sugarcane water
The ingredient list called for a cup of sugarcane water, which is a literal translation that tells an English speaker almost nothing.
It is aguapanela: panela, the block of unrefined whole cane sugar, dissolved in hot water. Colombians drink it hot with lime, cold over ice, and with cheese melted in it, and here it is the liquid that makes the batter.
That is what gives these their colour and their faint molasses taste. Made with plain water and sugar they are a different and blander thing, which is exactly what the recipe's own notes offer as an alternative.
Thick batter
The second step exists because this is the one thing that goes wrong: the batter has to be thick.
It should hold on a spoon long enough to be carried to the pan and slid off in a round. If it runs, add flour a spoonful at a time until it does not.
A thin batter spreads out the moment it hits the oil and fries into a flat lace with crisp edges and nothing in the middle.
They are fritters, not cakes
Torta in Spanish covers everything from a sponge to a flat fried round to a sandwich, depending on the country. In English cake means one thing, and it is not this.
These are spoonfuls of batter dropped into hot oil and fried on both sides. Closer to a drop scone or a fritter than to anything that goes in an oven, and there is no baking involved at all.
It matters because people arriving here looking for a cake recipe leave immediately.
Sweet or savoury
The recipe's notes contain two variations worth knowing.
Sweeter: use the full cup of aguapanela and skip the teaspoon of sugar, since the panela is already doing it.
Savoury: use water with salt to taste instead of aguapanela, and skip the sugar entirely. That version goes with soup or with cheese rather than with coffee.
More things fried in a pan
- Arepas de harina de trigo — the same flour, on a griddle.
- Homemade pancakes — the closest relative.
- Cheese bread — pandebono.
- Colombian coffee — what to drink with them.
Tortas de Harina FAQ
Panela, unrefined whole cane sugar, dissolved in water. It is drunk on its own all over Colombia, and here it is the liquid the batter is made with, which gives these their colour and their molasses note.
Use a cup of water with sugar to taste, which is what the recipe's own note suggests. Piloncillo is the same product under a Mexican name.
Not in the English sense. Tortas covers a much wider range in Spanish, and what these are is small rounds of batter fried in a pan, closer to a drop scone than to anything baked.
Thick enough to hold on a spoon. If it runs off, add flour a spoonful at a time. A thin batter spreads across the pan and fries into a lace instead of a round.
Yes, and the recipe says how: water and salt to taste instead of the aguapanela, and skip the sugar.
Eight, in ten minutes, from one cup of flour.
📖 Recipe
Tortas de Harina de Trigo (Colombian Flour Fritters)
Imprimir Pin ComentarIngredients
- 1 cup wheat flour
- 1 cup aguapanela (panela dissolved in water: see the notes)
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons powdered milk
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- A pinch of salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Oil (for frying)
Notas
Instructions
- In a bowl, put the wheat flour, the egg, the baking soda, the sugar, the salt, the powdered milk and the aguapanela, and mix until everything is combined.
- You are aiming for a thick batter, so if it looks too runny, add a little more flour.
- Heat oil in a pan. Drop the batter in with a spoon: let it coat the spoon and slide it into the pan as small rounds, or make them bigger if you prefer.
- Fry for a few minutes until golden on both sides, then lift them out onto paper towels to drain.
- Serve them warm.
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