![\"Papana\u0219i](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/5050cfce205441946480a8c96776430e7c9d95bd722196674e113b3be6bcf68c.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
<\/p>\nPapana\u0219i is a Romanian sweet made from a dough of white cheese mixed with eggs and flour. There are fried and boiled versions, and both are eaten while warm. For fried papana\u0219i, a thick ring of dough and a small ball of dough are fried separately, stacked, topped with cream and jam and arranged in a showy presentation. Boiled papana\u0219i are made by shaping the cheese dough into dumplings and coating them in toasty breadcrumbs.<\/p>\n
The fried dough uses br\u00e2nz\u0103 de vaci, a fresh cheese made from cow\u2019s milk. The whey is drained off well before eggs and wheat flour are mixed in, and the dough is flavored with vanilla, lemon zest, cinnamon and the like. Some recipes also add baking powder.<\/p>\n
The amount of flour added varies with the moisture in the cheese, the size of the eggs and the absorbency of the flour. The cheese is drained well first so that the dough does not become stiff from adding more and more flour. In the method of the food writer Laura Lauren\u021biu, the dough is brought together just soft enough to shape, and kneading stops once the ingredients have combined. Laura does not knead it until it develops a strong, bread-like elasticity.<\/p>\n
The dough is divided into larger and smaller pieces. The larger pieces are rolled into balls and flattened, and the hole in the center is widened with a finger to form a ring. The smaller pieces are rolled into balls, and each is fried separately. Laura explains that opening a hole in the center helps the heat reach the inside. They are fried a few at a time while adjusting the heat so that the surface alone does not brown too darkly. There is also a method in which, once they are well browned, they are put in the oven briefly to cook them through.<\/p>\n
The fried dough is drained of oil, the small round fritter is placed on top of the ring, and cream and jam are added while it is still warm. Sour cherry, blueberry, strawberry and other jams are used. Keeping the sugar in the dough modest brings out the flavor of the cheese and the sweetness and tartness of the fruit. Some are finished with powdered sugar or a sauce.<\/p>\n
Besides cream with a tang from fermentation, unfermented cream, called \u201csweet cream\u201d in Romanian, is also used. The \u201csweet\u201d in this name does not mean that sugar has been added. Some recipes do add sugar to the cream, and in another of Laura\u2019s recipes (ingredient proportions and method), powdered sugar is mixed into fermented cream with at least 25% fat and served alongside.<\/p>\n
The ring is broken apart, and the cream and jam are eaten together with the dough. Besides the presentation that stacks large and small pieces, there is also a form in which only small balls of dough are fried and served arranged on a plate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Papana\u0219i served at a restaurant in Sinaia. A ring-shaped fritter and a small round fritter are accompanied by white cream and fruit. Photo: Toniher, 2014-01-25, Sinaia, Romania. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Downscaled version from the source; no further processing.<\/p>\n Dough for boiling may be made with semolina or with wheat flour. In one example using semolina, cheese, eggs and semolina are mixed and left to rest so that the semolina absorbs moisture. The dough is shaped into dumplings with wet hands and cooked in gently simmering water, taking care that they do not fall apart.<\/p>\n The dumplings are coated with breadcrumbs toasted in butter until golden, with sugar added. The boiled dumplings are drained, put into the pan of breadcrumbs and coated by shaking the pan or a similar method. They are eaten with sugar, jam or a fruit sauce. Whereas in fried papana\u0219i the surface of the dough itself becomes toasty, the soft boiled dumplings are a sweet in which the toastiness of the toasted breadcrumbs is enjoyed. The breadcrumb coating also has a different texture from the surface of fried dough.<\/p>\n The food writer Corina Ureche describes a household example using wheat flour. Corina combines urd\u0103, a cheese made from whey, with wheat flour. Without adding too much flour, the slightly sticky dough is rolled into small balls, cooked in gently simmering water and coated with breadcrumbs. Cheese made by curdling milk and cheese that reuses whey also differ in how they hold moisture and in how the flour needs to be adjusted. Corina recalls that her grandmother and mother made boiled papana\u0219i.<\/p>\n Papana\u0219i is a plural form; the word for a single piece is papana\u0219. The name has been associated with \u201cpap\u0103,\u201d a children\u2019s word for food.<\/p>\n Older dictionaries describe it as a dish made with cheese, without limiting it to today\u2019s presentation of a ring and a small fritter stacked and topped with jam. A 1929 dictionary labels it a word from the Moldavia region and lists large dumplings made with fresh cheese, eggs and wheat flour. A 1939 dictionary records it as a word from the Muntenia and Moldavia regions, describing a dish of cheese and eggs formed together. This entry gives no dimensions, so it cannot be determined that the pieces were small enough to be called \u201csmall lumps of cheese.\u201d<\/p>\n The 1955\u20131957 dictionary of the literary language includes small, flat pieces of dough made with wheat flour or semolina, along with both a method of frying them in a frying pan and a method of boiling them. The 2009 edition of a dictionary also lists both cooking methods. This shows that boiled papana\u0219i were also on record by the mid-20th century at the latest.<\/p>\n Br\u00e2nz\u0103 de vaci<\/strong>: An unaged white cheese made from cow\u2019s milk. For papana\u0219i it is used well drained.<\/p> Urd\u0103<\/strong>: A Romanian white cheese obtained by heating whey. It is made differently from br\u00e2nz\u0103 de vaci, which is made by curdling milk.<\/p> Semolina<\/strong>: A granular flour of coarsely milled wheat. There are examples of its use in the dough of boiled papana\u0219i.<\/p> Sour cherry<\/strong>: A cherry with a strong tartness. Used in jams and similar products.<\/p> Baking powder<\/strong>: A leavening agent that produces gas in the presence of moisture and heat, making dough rise.<\/p> Whey<\/strong>: The liquid that separates from milk when cheese and similar products are made. Also known as milk whey.<\/p> Laura Lauren\u021biu<\/strong>: A Romanian food writer. Has published a method in which a dough made with drained cheese is not overworked and is fried into rings and balls.<\/p> Corina Ureche<\/strong>: A Romanian food writer. Presents household papana\u0219i made with urd\u0103 and wheat flour and finished by boiling.<\/p> Laura Lauren\u021biu: Papana\u0219i cu dulcea\u021b\u0103 \u0219i sm\u00e2nt\u00e2n\u0103<\/a> \u2014 Draining the cheese, the absorbency of the flour and the moisture content, making the dough without over-kneading, shaping large and small pieces and how the hole helps them cook through, briefly heating them in the oven after frying, serving while warm. The unfermented cream in the article\u2019s recipe and the fermented cream with at least 25% fat in the author\u2019s reply to a comment are referenced separately.<\/p>\n<\/li> Papana\u0219i \u2014 re\u021beta tradi\u021bional\u0103, pr\u0103ji\u021bi \u0219i fier\u021bi | Ceaun<\/a> \u2014 The current presentation of only small round fritters arranged on a plate, examples of frying and boiling, resting the semolina dough and the breadcrumbs, the combination of large and small fritters.<\/p>\n<\/li> Papanasi fierti – e-Retete<\/a> \u2014 Homemade boiled papana\u0219i with semolina. Resting for 30 minutes to absorb moisture, shaping with wet hands, gently simmering water, coating with breadcrumbs by shaking the pan, sauces served alongside.<\/p>\n<\/li> Papanasi cu urda – Papanasi fierti – Buc\u0103t\u0103ria Urecheatei<\/a> \u2014 A household method of boiling with urd\u0103 and wheat flour, and memories of the author\u2019s grandmother and mother. Keeping the flour modest, gently simmering water, the breadcrumb coating, accompaniments such as fermented cream.<\/p>\n<\/li> papana\u0219 – defini\u021bie \u0219i paradigm\u0103 | dexonline<\/a> \u2014 The regions and dish descriptions in the 1929 and 1939 dictionaries; the 1955\u20131957 dictionary of the literary language. The descriptions of wheat flour and semolina, and of boiling and frying, in the 2009 and 1998 editions of DEX and the 2010 edition of MDA. Singular and plural forms, and the reference to pap\u0103.<\/p>\n<\/li> pap\u0103 – defini\u021bie \u0219i paradigm\u0103 | dexonline<\/a> \u2014 The meaning of pap\u0103 as a children\u2019s word for food. The theory of Latin origin discussed in DER and elsewhere, and the reservation regarding the possibility of expressive word formation.<\/p>\n<\/li>![\"Papana\u0219i](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/c69df1b65fc1e1b9f5b62f45fa7615a5e28eafc0055357b4944cf5c0474d579f.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
\n![\"Ring-and-ball](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/8523ef17d8a9edde94a80bb380064374760a94db8a7aa454703c172f40b5f7f3.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
\nCoating boiled dumplings with toasted breadcrumbs<\/h2>\n
The name, and two cooking methods recorded in dictionaries<\/h2>\n
Glossary<\/h2>\n
References<\/h2>\n
![Original image<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Papana%C8%99i_Sinaia.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Papana%C8%99i_in_Timi%C8%99oara.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Papanasi_cu_cirese.jpg\"){kind=link}