Biscoito Frito de Polvilho

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl
• •Small saucepan
• •Wide heavy frying pan
• •Slotted spoon or spider
• •Paper towels or cooling rack
• •Instant-read thermometer, optional but useful

Instructions

1. 1

   Scald the polvilho

   Put the polvilho azedo in a large bowl. In a small pan, bring the 1/2 cup water, milk, 3 tablespoons oil, and salt just to a boil, then pour it over the starch all at once. Stir hard with a spoon until the mixture looks crumbly and damp. This hot liquid wakes up the starch and gives the biscuit its chew, so don't sprinkle it in timidly.

2. 2

   Make the dough

   Let the mixture cool until warm, not hot, about 8 minutes. Add the beaten egg and knead with your hand until the dough comes together, smooth and elastic like soft modeling clay. If it cracks badly, add room-temperature water 1 tablespoon at a time. Too much water makes the biscuits spit in the oil, so go slowly.

3. 3

   Roll thin sticks

   Pinch off small pieces and roll them into thin sticks about 10 cm long and no thicker than your little finger. Keep them open-ended, not fat logs. Thin pieces puff, cook through, and behave in the oil; thick pieces trap moisture and can pop, and nobody needs that lesson twice.

   If the dough sticks, rub a drop of oil on your palms. Don't dust with flour. There is no wheat here, and flour changes the texture.
4. 4

   Heat calm oil

   Pour frying oil into a wide, heavy pan to a depth of about 4 cm. Heat over medium-low until a tiny bit of dough sinks, then rises with small steady bubbles, about 150°C to 160°C. The oil should sound busy but not angry. Too hot and the outside sets before the inside expands, which is when polvilho starts acting badly.

5. 5

   Fry gently

   Add 5 or 6 sticks to the oil, leaving space between them. Fry, turning gently, until they puff, firm up, and turn pale golden, about 3 to 5 minutes. Don't crowd the pan. Crowding drops the oil temperature, the biscuits soak up oil instead of puffing, and then you get greasy little sticks wondering what happened.

6. 6

   Drain and repeat

   Lift the biscuits onto a paper-towel-lined plate or rack and let the oil settle back to calm bubbles before adding the next batch. If the oil gets loud or the biscuits brown too fast, lower the heat and wait a minute. Fried polvilho rewards patience, not bravery.

Chef Tips

• •Use polvilho azedo for the best puff and chew. Polvilho doce makes a milder, denser biscuit. Some families mix the two, and that's fine, but for your first batch I want the sour starch doing the work.
• •The honest shortcut is shaping all the dough before you fry. It makes the frying calmer because you're not rolling with oily hands while the pan waits. The cost is ten extra minutes upfront, which is not a tragedy.
• •Do not use seasoning powder here. If you want more flavor, add 1/4 cup finely grated cured cheese to the dough after the egg. Real cheese is food. Powder pretending to be dinner can stay on the shelf.
• •These are best the day they're made, while the outside is crisp and the middle still has chew. Reheat leftovers in a dry skillet or air fryer for a few minutes. The microwave makes them rubbery, and we are not doing that to ourselves.
• •Keep the oil moderate. This is the safety rule and the texture rule together. Calm oil lets the starch expand gradually; fierce oil makes the biscuit brown outside while pressure builds inside.

Advance Preparation

• •You can mix and shape the biscuits up to 4 hours ahead. Keep them covered at room temperature so the dough doesn't dry and crack.
• •The dough can rest, covered, for up to 1 day in the fridge. Let it come back to room temperature before rolling, or it will crack under your hands.
• •Do not freeze the raw shaped biscuits for frying. Extra surface moisture and hot oil are not friends.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 14g)