Monday, April 5, 2010

The Spanish in me

I have been away from this blog on purpose and for a reason...a reason which I will hopefully be able to explain to you soon.  I actually didn't have any plans of making a new post but I just couldn't resist it today.

The title says "the Spanish in me".  I am not Spanish but a Filipino by birth.  Most of you probably know that the Philippines was greatly influenced by Spain, having colonized the country for more than 300 years.  Spanish influence is still very much evident to this day, both in our language and our culture. 

Filipino food reflects the adaptation of Spanish cuisine in a big, big way. One of the snacks we love to eat is Churros, sometimes referred to as Spanish doughnut. (I do think in Spain though, they eat this for breakfast.) Curiously, churros is also widely popular here in Australia (I say that with wonder because I don't know a whole lot about Australian history).  This morning, as I was walking around at the mall with my daughter, I saw this small stall selling churros, and it reminded me of how long it has been since I last cooked churros for my family.

So just a few hours later, here they are on our table...but gone in a matter of minutes.


These were delicious....crunchy on the outside, very light and melt in the mouth.  You just can't get enough!


And dipping it in chocolate sauce just makes it even better!

I don't really know how many pieces I ended up with since they went out so fast.  I didn't have the chance to count.  There were five of us and we were all quite full after our snacking session.  We had a lot of leftover chocolate sauce though...half of that would have been sufficient.

It is so worth to make churros at home rather than buy them elsewhereFor your convenience, I am copying the recipe here. Buen provecho! 

CHURROS con CHOCOLATE (adapted from Taste.com.au)

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time:15 minutes

Ingredients (serves 8)
250ml (1 cup) water
100g unsalted butter
150g (1 cup) plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs, lightly whisked
Vegetable oil, to deep-fry
80g (1/2 cup) icing sugar mixture, sifted
200g good-quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
250ml (1 cup) milk

Method
Combine water and butter in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat. Cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes or until butter melts. Remove from heat.

Add the flour and salt and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined and the dough comes away from the side of the saucepan. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes or until cool.

Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, until well combined. Spoon dough into a piping bag fitted with a 2cm-diameter fluted nozzle.

Add enough oil to a large saucepan to reach a depth of 6cm. Heat to 180°C over medium heat (when oil is ready a cube of bread will turn golden brown in 15 seconds). Using a small sharp knife to cut the dough, pipe four 10cm lengths into the oil. Deep-fry for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to transfer churros to a plate lined with paper towel. Dust with icing sugar. Repeat with the remaining dough, reheating oil between batches.

Meanwhile, combine the chocolate and milk in a medium saucepan over
medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.

Arrange churros on a platter and serve with chocolate dipping sauce.

4 comments:

  1. I love Churros - I had these every morning for breakfast when we were in the Dominican on vacation - Moi Bueno!!!

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  2. Are they actually made from choux pastry? Anyway, I am pretty sure a family that share farmed for us made these and I think I saw them because I was invited to the party for confirmation.

    Where I lived, which is 3 or so hours from Melbourne, at the end of the King Valley, there were Spanish and Italians and very few "Australians", our family and a couple of others. Some more were there when I was little and started school, but the school got bigger, and the Aussies moved, so I was surrounded by Italians and Spanish.

    I didn't realise until recently that I learnt to count to ten in Spanish not Italian as I had thought. Most people were working on tobacco.

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  3. Hi I would like to ask if the plain flour is same as All purpose flour? thank you very much. Will try this for my husband. :)

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