Sweet dough dishes
curd or yeast dough buns fried in oil
living home baking tradition
Curd, yeast dough, oil, powdered sugar, Užgavėnės, festive baking
Curd spurgos, Yeast spurgos
Curd and yeast spurgos
Curd spurgos are very popular in Lithuania: they are quick to make, have a slight tang, and a fluffy inside. Yeast spurgos require rising but are lighter and more bread-like.
Both versions belong to the group of festive fried pastries. According to the Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia, spurgos are soft flour confectionery fried in fat, shaped as balls, rings, or figures, with or without filling, with dough leavened by yeast; they are fried in a deep vessel where the volume of fat is four to five times greater than the volume of spurgos.
Užgavėnės richness
Užgavėnės is associated with hearty, fatty food before Lent. Spurgos fit this context, although pancakes are more often treated as the main symbol.
It is important not to overstate their ritual status: spurgos are a living home pastry, not only an ancient ceremonial dish.
Oil temperature
A good spurga must cook through inside while the outside browns. The oil should therefore be neither too hot nor too cool.
Smaller balls cook more evenly and are less likely to remain raw inside.
Serving
Spurgos are served warm or cooled, dusted with powdered sugar, and sometimes filled with jam or cream.
Curd spurgos are best the same day, but brief reheating can restore softness.
Recipe
How to fry curd spurgos
Curd spurgos are quicker than yeast ones. Good curd and moderate oil temperature help produce a fluffy inside and a surface that is not too greasy.
Ingredients
- 500 g curd
- 3 eggs
- 120 g sugar
- 250-300 g wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder or 0.5 tsp baking soda
- A pinch of salt
- Lemon zest, if desired
- Oil for frying
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Method
- Mash the curd with eggs, sugar, salt, and lemon zest.
- Mix in the flour with baking powder. The dough should be soft but shapeable.
- With wet hands, form small balls.
- Fry in oil at 165-175 °C until the spurgos brown and cook through inside.
- Drain and dust with powdered sugar.
Notes
In oil that is too hot, spurgos brown outside but stay raw inside.
Too much flour makes spurgos heavy.
