Churros is a well-known snack all over America and almost every part of the world. In Malaysia, this snack is predominantly found in stalls situated in shopping malls where customers get to choose their favourite flavour to buy.
What are Churros?
Churros, a form of fried-dough pastry originates from Spain and Portugal. This choux-based pastry means it made of butter, water, flour, salt and eggs. This is a popular snack in areas that have received Spanish immigration.
This snack can be thin, knotted, long or thick. It is traditionally dipped in hot chocolate and eaten for breakfast. This snack is also often sprinkled with sugar on top.
Historically Confusing Origins
The history of churros is complicated; which is just like most food in the world. There are various aspects when it comes to claiming that a particular food originates from.
Some say that the famed Spanish smack is a descendant of a much loved Chinese pastry, yóu tiáo (油条). The Chinese yóu tiáo looks like two long, conjoined breadsticks that are deep-fried in oil. However, yóu tiáo is salty and not coated with sugar or drenched in chocolate.
Somehow, Portuguese explorers brought the Chinese yóu tiáo back to Iberia, and with some modifications, the churros were invented. The sugary coated pastry has gained mass popularity throughout Spain ever since.
But there is another story to the Spanish delicacy.
Others say that this snack may have been invented by Spanish shepherds who made the snack as a substitute for fresh bread — the fried dough made of flour, water and salt which are basic choux pastry ingredients. The name was supposedly inspired by the native Churra sheep which they were shepherding who have ridged horns similar to the pastry.
Chocolatey-Churros
It may be fuzzy when discussing how churros exactly come into being, but how chocolate got involved is less so.
During the Spanish Inquisition in the 1500s, the doughy pastry was introduced to South America. Soon after, Spanish explorers returned to Europe with a new discovery: cacao.
Cacao was sweetened with sugar cane to produce the thick, hot chocolate used as a dipping sauce for this bread snack. Since then, the concept of dipping churros into hot, melted chocolate became widespread and is massively popular to this very today.
But this snack can also be served in other ways. Such as being filled with a variety of fillings. The most common would be chocolate-filled churros, a Brazillian favourite.
Mexicans like to fill their snack with milk or vanilla cream instead, while Cubans prefer fruit-filled churros, with fruits such as guava. American churros are often rolled with cinnamon sugar which gives a distinctive taste.
Churros Away!
Enjoy the salty-sweet crispy snack from Street Churros and CHURRZ! Both offer a variety of flavours, and there must be something that meets your tastebuds! And if you’re feeling lazy, don’t worry. You can order via foodpanda, too!