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Indian Fritters

A batter of eggs, semolina, milk, butter, and sugar is fried into small fritters.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Indian Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat the eggs well, combining the whites and yolks.

  2. Gradually add the semolina, then mix in the milk to create a smooth batter.

Fry and serve

  1. In a small saucepan, heat the butter until it boils.

  2. Drop 2 teaspoons of batter into the hot butter.

  3. Fry until rich brown.

  4. Fry each fritter separately.

  5. Serve hot, dusted with castor sugar.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Semolina + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together351 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add richness and structure as they set.
Semolina
Provides the starchy body that holds the fritters together when fried.
Milk
Hydrates the semolina into a smooth batter with a soft, tender interior.
Butter
Fries the fritters, adding richness and encouraging browning on the surface.
Castor sugar
Adds sweetness and a delicate finish on the hot fritters.

The step that matters

Fry until rich brown. Frying in butter that is hot enough browns the surface through the Maillard reaction and sets the outside quickly, so the fritter keeps a crisp edge. If the butter is too cool, the batter soaks up grease and the fritters turn heavy and pale.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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