How to Make Churros

I had the pleasure of having churros made for me by a real expert yesterday.  Despite what many people say, there really is no grand secret to making great churros.  My host followed this simple recipe and the churros were absolutely the best I've ever tasted anywhere.

Ingredients:

Flour, Water & Salt
Paladin (dipping chocolate, if required)

The trick, she assures, me is in the ratio of flour to water, which should be the same in terms of volume (i.e. one cup of water to one cup of flour). In terms of quantity, our host made a mixed a small saucepan full of water with the same amount of flour and the resulting churros were enough for 6-8 hungry people.

Boil the water and mix the flour in immediately as the water comes off the hob. Add a pinch or two of salt and stir, mix and kneed to a light dough.

For authentic churros you'll need a 'churrera' to squeeze out the shaped tubes. Fill the canister of the 'churrera' with the mix whilst heating a pan full of sunflower oil - enough for deep frying. Once the oil is hot enough - check by adding a small piece of dough - squeeze out a long thin spiral into the saucepan and fry until it is lightly browned all over. I'm assured that the temperature of the oil is key - it should be hot! Anything less and the churros will come out oily and stodgy.

When it comes to serving, there's only one way to go with churros - chocolate! You might go to the trouble of melting real chocolate and blending with milk, but the really Spanish way to do it would be to open up a jar of Paladin and mix with hot milk. You might also like to sprinkle the churros with sugar.