It just came to me – no – actually I have been thinking about it a few days now already. The Italians and French are way more worshipped when it comes to food, but where are the Spanish? This one is for all the ones out there with a spanish flair…
One morning while my family and I were on experiencing Madrid, I asked them if I could treat them to a traditional Spanish breakfast (recommended by the guide book). After walking on empty stomachs for quite a while having a hearty breakfast of beans, eggs and chorico’s in mind, we came to sit in the restaurant only to discover that I had led them to a traditional breakfast of ever-so decadent chocolate and churros, … my fantastic family was in want of something different but nevertheless they laughed all the way.
Churros
Makes one plateful
You need:
Vegetable oil for deep frying
1 cup water
½ cup butter
¼ tsp salt
1 cup cake flour
3 eggs
¼ cup sugar
If you are using a deep frying machine, turn it on a medium heat, otherwise, no problem, pour a few glugs of oil into a deep saucepan until it is half full and turn the heat on over a medium heat.
To make the churro dough:
Heat the water, butter and salt so that it boils – the butter must melt completely – then turn the heat down so that it is of a low heat. Now add the flour and stir as if it is a question between life and death! I mean stir vigorously until the mixture starts to pull away from the sides to form a ball, about 1 minute. Take it off the heat. Beat the eggs in all at one, you can use a whisk to make it easier or keep using your wooden spoon, until it is smooth.
Let it all cool down. Take a breather. When it is ready, spoon the mixture into a large star tipped cake decorators tube. If you do not have one, see page ….for other options (“ ‘n boer maak ‘n plan” – literally translated as “a farmer makes a plan”). Hold the tube full of churro mixture at the bottem with your right hand and at the top with your left, so that when you squeeze, everything does not bulge out of the top. Now squeeze 3 long snail of +/- 15 cm each directly into the heated oil. The oil will make a lively sizzling sound. Check the churros and make sure they do not stick, if they do, use two forks to separate them. When they have turned golden brown, about 3-4 minutes, remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Then squeeze the next batch into the oil and while they fry away, roll the drained churros in sugar and pile on a plate. Repeat this with the mixture until the mixture is finished. When you have a sky-high pile, pour the remaining sugar over and serve to dunk in the special chocolate concoction below…
Chocolate Concoction for Churros
This can be made without adding the milk, stored in an airtight container of sorts and then used when needed. It is way better than powder hot chocolate, you will agree.
200g dark chocolate
1tsp corn flour (Maizena)
4 tsp sugar
2 cups milk
Break the chocolate up roughly and throw in a blitzer or pulser together with everything else except the milk. Give it a way whizzes so that the chocolate is broken up quite finely and everything is mixed. Place in a container or use straight away. Put the milk in a saucepan with the chocolate and heat over a low heat. Keep whisking it so that the chocolate dissolves into the milk. Continue to whisk for 5 minutes, so that the mixture starts to thicken (because if the corn flour. Remove from the heat and whisk until smooth. Pour into 4 individual cups if you do not know each other too well, or one bowl if you are friends/family. Do not pour the mixture over the churros, but rather use it to dunk your churros in the chocolate after every bite. Mmmmmm… sweetness.
