My grandmother was a maid.
Between growing up poor on a farm in rural Minnesota and marrying a handsome farmer at the beginning of WWII, she worked as a maid. The Depression was a decade in and my grandmother had felt every year of it, having to fill her empty stomach at school with lard sandwiches. With school behind her, her prospects in the late 1930s were marriage or the first menial job she came across. With the handsome farmer still years away from planting his feet in the ground and settling down with her, she accepted a job as a servant in the Wenner household.
The Wenner family lived in a rural town outside of St. Cloud, in a large, turn-of-the-century house with dark paint and narrow windows. Not far from where my grandmother grew up, but in a world of comfort my grandmother had never known.
While routine consumed her body and mind most of the day, the kitchen was her place of refuge. A place to cook and experience new dishes, some with fruits and spices that her family could not afford. Recipes that she never forgot - simple recipes from when food was simple – which became a part of our family as she cooked for her 14 children on a farm in Watkins, Minnesota.
Never learning to drive, and not venturing much outside of Minnesota in her lifetime, I don’t think she would have ever imagined her favorite recipes being cooked in a kitchen in Malaysia. But I do think...no, I know that she is smiling down from heaven right now because even after she passed, she still found a way to keep fattening me up.
Thanks to my mom and aunts who collected her recipes, I now feel a strong connection to my grandmother’s history. Every time I cook one of her recipes, I imagine her in that big house, living away from home for the first time, sneaking a taste of a dish she cooked, but never tried.
Apple Fritters with Lemon Sauce adapted from Grandma's Recipes
Makes about 30 fritters
Apple Fritters -
What you’ll need:
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
3 medium tart apples, peeled and finely chopped (I used Granny Smith apples)
1 tsp ground Vietnamese Cinnamon
Oil for frying
Method:
1. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Gradually stir in milk and well-beaten egg. Add finely chopped apples. Mix ingredients together into a batter.
2. In a skillet or fryer, heat 2-3 inches of oil at about 375°. Drop batter from spoon ("about the size of a walnut") into hot oil. Fry until golden brown, remove from skillet, and place on paper towel to soak up excess oil. Serve warm with lemon sauce.
Lemon Sauce -
What you’ll need:
1 tbsp corn starch
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup boiling water
Zest and juice from one lemon
1 tbsp butter
Method:
In a saucepan, mix cornstarch, sugar and salt. Add boiling water. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly until the mixture boils and thickens. Turn heat to low.
Stir in lemon rind, juice and butter. Serve hot with apple fritters.
Notes:
If you are not serving the fritters with lemon sauce, you can add some lemon zest into the batter. After frying, sprinkle the apple fritters with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.
Makes about 30 fritters
Apple Fritters -
What you’ll need:
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
3 medium tart apples, peeled and finely chopped (I used Granny Smith apples)
1 tsp ground Vietnamese Cinnamon
Oil for frying
Method:
1. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Gradually stir in milk and well-beaten egg. Add finely chopped apples. Mix ingredients together into a batter.
2. In a skillet or fryer, heat 2-3 inches of oil at about 375°. Drop batter from spoon ("about the size of a walnut") into hot oil. Fry until golden brown, remove from skillet, and place on paper towel to soak up excess oil. Serve warm with lemon sauce.
Lemon Sauce -
What you’ll need:
1 tbsp corn starch
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup boiling water
Zest and juice from one lemon
1 tbsp butter
Method:
In a saucepan, mix cornstarch, sugar and salt. Add boiling water. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly until the mixture boils and thickens. Turn heat to low.
Stir in lemon rind, juice and butter. Serve hot with apple fritters.
Notes:
If you are not serving the fritters with lemon sauce, you can add some lemon zest into the batter. After frying, sprinkle the apple fritters with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.
