Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Churros

P1150114a

The first time we came across and fought over this Spanish treat was in Disneyland, Anahiem. Then we found it in Pier 39, SF and everywhere in California. And much later in Tokyo Disneyland too. And once somewhere in Singapore. Those churros in Disneyland were about 0.5m long each. I couldn't find a recipe for churros anywhere (didn't think to Google it then). Then about 5 years ago I found this recipe (I've made some slight adjustments) in a book called Mediterranean by Jacqueline Clark and Joanna Farrow:

Churros

200 g or 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour* (reduced from 1 3/4 cups)
1 1/4 cup water
pinch of salt (reduced from 1/4 t)
1 T sugar (reduced from 2 T; most times I omit it)
2 T veg oil (reduced from 1/4 cup; other recipes use butter)
1 egg, beaten (can add a few drops of vanilla)--some recipes omit the egg

Dusting:
1/4 cup fine brown or white sugar
1 t cinnamon powder

*bread flour will give a tougher dough that won't break so easily when being piped.

1. Mix together the 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon powder well, leave aside.

2. Put oil and water into a small pot. Sift flour, salt and sugar together. When water boils, switch off heat and put in all the flour and stir well with a wooden spoon. This part needs a lot of muscles as the dough is quite stiff.

3. After 2 min, add the egg into the dough and stir well till all the egg is absorbed.

4. Heat up about 6 cups of veg oil in a small pot. Find the largest star nozzle (best if about 1/2 "/1.25 cm in diameter) you have and, using a cloth piping bag or plastic piping tube (a plastic bag will burst), push the dough out into small coils or 's' shapes directly into the hot oil (caution: sometimes little pockets of dough will burst out. One of my friends, a Spaniard, burnt herself very badly cooking churros so do be careful.) or, to be safer, pipe onto a plate (using kitchen scissors to cut into 12 cm lengths) and then carefully drop into the oil.

5. Turn churros over to get even browning. When it is medium brown, scoop it out onto paper towels to drain. Then quickly toss into the cinnamon-sugar mixture and serve hot.

Apparently churros are eaten with a hot cup of chocolate or dipped in choc sauce. I did that this afternoon, when it began to rain, and it was bliss. But I wonder how do they make the chorros in Disneyland so long?

18 comments:

red | hongyi said...

YOU MADE CHURROS!!! :D
I remember the ones we had in SF, cannot recall eating them in Disneyland! :(

I just had churros with Emily and Becky a couple of days ago in a mall. We got to dip them in melted chocolate...so so good!

Can't wait to try UR churros!

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

we were all fighting over it in disneyland usa cos it got too expensive, u kids wanting it everytime we saw a churros stall.but u weren't with us in disneyland tokyo so we didn't fight very much. ha! u'll never loose 5 kgs!btw, i'm using dad's laptop cos d desk comp has gone mad, switching on n off by itself. it takes me so long to do a post d last two days.if its not fixed by 2mrw, i might give up blogging! n have u been telling friends over there cos 2day my visits have gone up by over 30%!in one day.n rmber to check out tt ad by chipster. u shd enter d contest too.

Denise ^ ChickyEGG said...

OMG! the last time I had Churros was in Brisbane! =p and it was a long stick sprinkle with cinnamon +sugar by a machine.. OR dip in Chocolate like hong yi says.
Eh I rememeber last few years Churros was sold in Tanjung Aru, but I dare not to try..haha.. YOURS look more like the one I had in bris. * LOlz *.... Can u open up a stall in front of ur hse =p

Denise ^ ChickyEGG said...

Yuen lai... Both ur MIL & my mum are very particular in their cookings. Hahaha

Anonymous said...

It looks absolutely delicious. Can I order from you? I don't think I'll ever try making this.. It doesn't look easy at all. PLEASE.. :)

Anonymous said...

Another coincidence? We just'd churros @ a Mexican Restaurant near our house last Sunday. It was a free dessert that came w/ Alx's meal. It was piping hot & yummy. Ur's look better! I tell yeh, K's telepathic.

Denise ^ ChickyEGG said...

Seremban Seafood Rest : Hey! Ya ur fren is absolutely correct!! B4 we order..
Dad : How much u charge the crab per kg?

Capt : RM 45/kg

* LOLZ *~ but I tell u, somehow I feel it's worth it !!once in a blue moon la.. the crab really big & FAT & HUGE leh =p

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

denise:hmm, let me consider tt..a churros stall huh.i've never tried churros dipped in choc,it must be so good!yes, will go to seremban res when nuffnang sends me tt check :)so u better click on d ad so i can get bigger check!

raina: it is d easiest thing to make! u'll say "cheh!so easy!" only hard thing is piping it out.

mike:whadde..i'm beginning to feel paranoid about my next meal! let's c how many meal coincidences we make this year!no lah, my churros don't look so good cos i couldn't get a star nozzle tt's big enuf.

u know, i just love getting feedback fm friends like u all, both near n far. makes me smile even tho its hard having to wait till hub comes home with his laptop. hse comp. is in sick bay,
prob. for 2 days. i actually dropped by a cybercafe just now but backed out when i inhaled d stale air n thought of d germs on d keyboards.haha, i'm a hygiene freak i know!

Anonymous said...

Didn't know churros are so widely available. Had churros for breakfast at a coffee shop in Valencia, Spain long long time ago.

Dipped in REALLY THICK chocolate drink. It was yummy but didn't look as good as yours!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

very nice site, and oh so appetizing too! I was going to try making churros as I haven't had them for years, saw your recipe which looks good, but you've omitted the water from the ingredients list. Please let us know the missing quantity do that I can sate my craving.

Anonymous said...

Well, I've answered my own question. I went and found a copy of "Mediterannean Country Kitchen", the recipe matches the original quantities in this, and for the benefit of others who want to try, it's 1 cup of water.

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

eric: hey, i just saw ur comment. thank u so much for pointing tt. i think the editors didn't notice tt too. i've included the 1 cup water in the ingredients list. did ur churros turn out ok?

Anonymous said...

I drop my job in Buenos Aires (Argentina)and moved to the country side. Now I started my own business and make churros for a living... and the secret lies in the dough, when flour and water are put together... but that's all I can say for now. Saludos!

S and O said...

Churros!!!! Does the goodness never end??? *insert happy dance* :) I'm totally salivating over here, must make those tonight!!! :)

Thanks so much!!
Olivia

Unknown said...

So, it's only two years after I found this...

I finally pulled my thumb out and made these recently for my birthday, and they are far too easy! Sure the dough gets pretty stiff for beating by hand, but still, it's dangerous how easy these are to make.

In answer to your question Terri, they came out beautifully, even the ones made the following morning from the remaining batter (kept in a tied-off piping bag in the fridge) which we scoffed with Mexican hot chocolates. And by that I mean melted Ibarra whisked into hot milk with cinnamon.

Thanks again for sharing this.

Unknown said...

hi there! i've tried your recipe, along with many others. but somehow for all the times I have tried, my churros is always wet on the inside! do you know how to overcome this?

thanks!

terri@adailyobsession said...

oh dear i'm not sure why tt happens. i'll ask a spanish friend n come back to you:)

Disneyland Obsession said...

I do love those Churros, can't think of a time that I made a trip to Disneyland and didn't have at least one. Now I have to try this at home, yum yum eat em up! Thanks.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...