Vila Velha de Ródão Pantufas

Little fried potato pillows, golden and drenched in honey.

Origin: Traditional Beira Baixa pastry · Vila Velha de Ródão (parish of Fratel)
Region: Vila Velha de Ródão
Season: October · Festa dos Nógados e das Pantufas (Fratel)

Sweetness

Richness

Difficulty

Pantufas are small fried cakes made from a leavened potato purée, dropped by the spoonful into hot olive oil or vegetable oil until swollen and golden. The name says it all: they emerge from the pan soft and rounded, like little cushions, with a tender, slightly spongy crumb that contrasts with the crisp outer crust.

Once fried, they are plunged into warm honey or dusted generously with sugar, emerging lustrous and sticky. They are eaten warm, by hand, still fragrant with the scent of olive oil and honey — a humble, homemade sweet born of the ingenuity of making the most of the local potato.

In Vila Velha de Ródão they appear almost always alongside nógados, their inseparable partner at the great October festival that celebrates both sweets.

Ingredients

Potatoes
Eggs
Baker's yeast
Milk
Water
Flour
Olive oil or oil for frying
Honey
Sugar

Taste & texture

Soft and fluffy within, with a lightly crisp fried crust and a rounded sweetness drawn mainly from the honey or sugar. The flavour is gentle and comforting — the potato is barely detectable, ceding the stage to the caramel note of the coating.

Variations

The main variation lies in the finish: some pantufas are dipped in warm honey, others simply dusted with sugar. At home, some scent the syrup with cinnamon or lemon peel, echoing the syrup used for the nógados that accompany them.

Where to try it

This is a homemade sweet, seldom found in pastry shops. The best chance to taste it is the Festa dos Nógados e das Pantufas in Fratel (Vila Velha de Ródão) in October, where they are made live in cookery workshops. Otherwise, they turn up at village celebrations and family tables across the Beira Baixa.

Pairs well with

They call for their traditional partner, the nógados, and sit well with a coffee or a small glass of aguardente or the region's medronho spirit.

History

Pantufas belong to the popular confectionery of the Beira Baixa, made from simple household and field produce — potato, eggs, yeast and honey — and so they were part of village life long before they featured on any festive menu. They are a sweet of intelligent poverty, in which the humble potato is transformed into a light, leavened dough worthy of celebration.

In Fratel, a parish of the municipality of Vila Velha de Ródão, the tradition found its own stage at the Festa dos Nógados e das Pantufas, held in October, which brings together the two sister sweets united by frying and honey. The event, organised by the local cultural association with support from the municipality as part of the Beira Baixa cultural programme, was created to revive and teach the making of these sweets through cookery workshops open to the public, preceded by a parade of the philharmonic band.

Sources: portugal.gastronomias.com · diariodigitalcastelobranco.pt · reconquista.pt · portugalnummapa.com

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