Donut-shaped fried cheese dough topped with sour cream and a crown of sour-cherry preserve: Moldova's restaurant dessert of choice, also served boiled in some homes.

Papanași arose in the rural Romanian and Moldovan countryside in the 19th century from peasant kitchens with abundant fresh cottage cheese. The name traces to the Latin pappa, an onomatopoeic word for soft food fed to children, which fits the soft cheese centre. The crown of cherry jam is a Bessarabian signature; sour cherries grow across the country and the country's cherry-liqueur tradition is the same fruit pressed differently. The dish is the standard close to a Moldovan restaurant meal.

Where to eat Papanași in Chișinău

3 editor picks for Papanași in Chișinău, ranked by editorial score. All Chișinău signature dishes · Papanași across every city.

  • La Taifas

    Order Tocăniță cooked in the cauldron with mămăligă and a shot of house țuică.

    La Taifas in Chișinău is the old village house with porch on Strada București, serving rustic Moldovan cooking and live folk music in a clay-pottery room.

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  • Sălcioara

    Order Sarmale wrapped in vine leaves with sour cream and mămăligă on the side.

    Sălcioara in downtown Chișinău is the traditional Moldovan dining room with carved-wood interiors, evening live music and a kitchen built on village recipes.

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  • Pegas Terrace & Restaurant

    Order Marbled beef steak with seasonal vegetables and a glass of Fetească Neagră.

    Pegas in Chișinău is the long-running two-storey European fusion room on Strada Albișoara, with a wide summer terrace and a Moldovan wine list.

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Make it at home

Serves 645 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 500g fresh cottage cheese or quark (drained well)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 0.5 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 200g plain flour, plus extra for shaping
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of fine sea salt
  • Sunflower oil, for deep-frying
  • 250 ml smântână or full-fat sour cream, chilled, to serve
  • 200g sour-cherry preserve (visine)

Method

  1. Press the cottage cheese through a sieve into a mixing bowl. Add the eggs, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest and beat smooth.
  2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl, then fold into the wet ingredients to form a soft, slightly sticky dough.
  3. Lightly flour your hands. Divide the dough into six equal pieces. From each piece, pinch off about 15 percent and roll it into a small ball, then shape the rest into a doughnut ring about 8 cm wide.
  4. Heat 4 cm of sunflower oil in a wide pot to 170°C / 340°F. Fry the rings and balls separately for 3 to 4 minutes, turning, until deeply golden.
  5. Drain on kitchen paper.
  6. To plate, set a ring on each plate, perch a ball on top, spoon over a generous cold dollop of smântână and crown with sour-cherry preserve so the syrup runs down.

Editor tip. Drain the cottage cheese overnight in a sieve lined with muslin; wet cheese gives flat papanași that absorb too much oil.

Common allergens: Dairy, Egg, Gluten.