If we go back at the beginning of the 20th century in the Andalusian rural area, in Spain, specifically in the Almeria Alpujarra, where agriculture helped many families not to go hungry during the times of drought, adapting its crops to the lack of water and the hardness of the land, we can find a traditional dish that has become the king of many houses in the area.
It is not known exactly when this recipe was born originally “potatoes for old”, but it is true that it has several centuries of antiquity. In addition to a culture of use where agriculture helped to survive in times of drought and lack of variety and quantity of products, its elaboration helped to celebrate events such as Holy Week and other times where the family met.
Its original name arises because it was designed for the elderly in the area, since it was an easy -to -eat meal and it was not necessary to chew much.
Made with natural, simple and easy elaboration ingredients, it turned out to be the perfect culmination for those potato spotlight and anise afternoons where on so many occasions it accompanied a good dessert to the music and the party.
Its ingredients: potato, flour, oil, eggs and sugar are extremely simple to find in any pantry of our kitchen, and therefore its elaboration and consumption has been extended so much since they were first created.
Time has made Papaviejos a characteristic product of Almeria and, although they have suffered some transformation to local pastry chefs to increase their consumption, it cannot be denied that the original recipe, in addition to simple, is delicious to the palate.
Currently you can find stuffed papaviejos, either with fruits confitted or chocolate. There are also the glaze, covered with a touch of icing sugar. But here we are going to focus on the traditional ones.
Ingredients
-200 grams of potatoes
-200 grams of wheat flour
-2 eggs
-200 milliliters of milk
-½ teaspoon of cinnamon powder
-1 on yeast
-50 grams of sugar
-1 lemon range
-1 orange (optional) raw
-A pinch of salt
-Sunflower oil
Way to prepare it: Cook the potato without peeling and then remove the skin and crush with a fork until you get a puree. Grill the lemon and orange and throw the 2 eggs and 50 gr. Of sugar. We will beat with the arm blender until everything is well mixed. We add the Lecha and continue beating. We join the flour with the yeast and salt and sift little by little on the mixture. We mix very well. We heat a lot of sunflower oil and we take tablespoons that we will fry on both sides until they have a brown color. We batter on sugar and cinnamon and serve.
NOTE: This culinary recipe has been possible thanks to the writer Julia Romero.
Photographs: 1.- Papaviejos: YouTube, of unknown origin. 2.- The Almeria Alpujarra: Traveler.
Originally published at LaDamadeElche.com
