World Cup Food Challenge - Churros, Spain.

Oh Spain, I had such high hopes for you. My tapas feast for the finale was well underway and then.....and then....you had to get completely hauled over the coals, utterly ripped apart and made to look like a Sunday league team by the magic of RVP and Robben. A staggering performance from the incumbent World and European champions.

So with my tapas dream turning to ashes, I was left with only one chance to cook from Spain. This was a difficult job with there being no shortage of tasty Spanish food, recipes and ingredients available. Was I to stick with my tapas feast? or choose something else?

Well it had to be something else, the feast just wouldn't be the same with Spain being unceremoniously drop kicked back across the Atlantic, so instead I opted for a recipe that I've always wanted to have a go at but never got round to. Churros.

For the uninitiated, Churros are the Spanish (and Mexican) equivalent of a doughnut, only instead of being round and filled with Jam, they are long and thin, coated in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar and then dipped into whatever you fancy. I personally recommend a fruit compote or melted chocolate.

This recipe is simplicity in itself but.... it is far easier with two people.

First off, make your dough....
Ingredients
250g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla extract
50g of butter
350ml water
pinch of salt

Method
Weigh out and seive together the flour and BP into a bowl, make a well in the centre.
Boil the water and pour over the butter and vanilla extract in a measuring jug, stir until fully melted.
Pour into the well and beat with a wooden spoon until a thick smooth dough is formed, allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Thats the easy part all done. Now...

Set up two trays, one with 150g of sugar and 2 tsp of cinnamon, mixed together and spread out. the other tray is to be covered with kitchen paper to absorb excess fat.

Next , fill a pan with about a litre of sunflower oil and slowly bring to about 150C, a piece of bread dropped in should brown within a minute.

While the oil is heating, transfer the mixture into a piping bag with a medium star nozzle, or a circle one if you don't want ridges.

Pipe into the oil to the desired length then, preferably with another person, cut off the end of the churro once the desired length as been piped.

Deep fry until golden brown, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon onto the paper and then roll in the sugar. repeat until all the batter is used.

 

Enjoy