A few weeks ago I had a hankerin' for a Greek pasty called Diples (Δίπλες, pronounced thee-p-less). Basically it is a fried dough lightly dipped in a honey/lemon syrup, then coated with finely chopped walnuts and cinnamon. They're amazing.
Like many a pastry option from this part of the world, there does exist a great amount of nutrition on tap. You can't go wrong with the syrup, which is comprised of just honey and lemon juice. Likewise, walnuts are a great source of healthy fats. If you like, you could even use white whole wheat pastry flour for max nutrition from the dough. Cinnamon itself is known to hold several medicinal properties. Therefore, all of the above ingredients are nutritionally dense. As this fried dough is not meant to be saturated in the syrup, the added sugars will not be that bad.
The origin of the unique name comes from the word in Greek for turning something over to the other side, or to flip, Δίπλα, pronounced thee-p-lah. As you can see (below), it's flattened dough that is flipped over while simultaneously being fried to a bubbly golden brown. At which point, the dough is set into this shape.
So I wanted to learn how to do these for myself so as to help keep the culture I was raised in alive and well in the years to come. For my nieces, nephews, and any children I may have (which is an issue let me tell you). However, after my mom caught wind of this plan, she said we must make them for a family gathering, together. Which basically meant she wanted to take over. So I obliged and took a secondary role by thinning out the dough using a pasta machine and then cutting to size. My mom did the frying/final shaping of the dough. Well, and the syrup, walnut, cinnamon application bit.
Where it got interesting for me was the oil that she insisted on using for the frying. That being grape seed oil. I assumed extra virgin (EV) olive oil would be the main choice considering we have lots of it from family owned olive trees in Greece. But, since we don't have a limitless supply, my mom decided against using it.
Grape seed oil has a unique feature in that it’s great for high heat frying, as was indicated on the bottle. Its smoke point is listed as roughly 20 °F higher than high quality EV olive oil. It's slightly cheaper. And, most importantly, low in saturated fats while high mono and polyunsaturated fats.
If you read my EV olive oil post, this is one of the major factors towards making a cooking/dressing oil a good option. And to repeat, saturated fats are bad as they cause your liver to produce bad (ldl) cholesterol. Mono and polyunsaturated fats (the good fats) are dubbed so because they raise your good (hdl) cholesterol which helps clear ldl cholesterol from your cardiovascular system. A double whammy effect if you will.
Also, this particular grape seed oil that we used was not hydrogenated, so it was even healthier than the fat profile alone. Why? Well, the process of hydrogenation gives certain low-quality oils a longer shelf life with the ability to withstand repeated heating. During this process, so called trans fats are formed within the oil. When this type of oil is heated, the trans fats are released for your consumption. When you consume trans fats, they will RAISE your ldl, and LOWER your hdl cholesterol...which is BAD for your cardiovascular health. Beware...!
EV olive oil does not have this problem.
As to the flavor of grape seed oil as a dressing, I am sure it's fine. I don't think it would match extra virgin (EV) olive oil. But you can give it a go and comment below how it tastes. Also, I am not sure it will be as nutritionally dense as EV olive oil for it seemingly has a little less in terms of phytonutrients.
If you are looking to fry some food with oil that is a solid nutrition option, good with high heat, all the while keeping the costs down…grape seed oil should be on your list!
The diples we made were delicious and the grape seed oil we used did a great job...!
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