Uruguay: vegan churros with vegan dulce de leche

This week, we’re back in South America and pay a visit to Uruguay. Here we make some vegan churros and a delicious, vegan dulce de leche, caramelized milk and sugar. Read on for some info about popular Uruguayan dishes and a highlight on churros and dulce de leche or jump straight to the recipe.

Similar to their neighbour Argentine , Uruguayan food relies heavily on meat, especially cow ​[1]​. European settlers and immigrants who replaced to original Charrúa, Chaná, and Guaraní tribes have brought their own food culture and today, the Uruguayan cuisine is heavy with European influences. In particular, Spanish, Italian, British and German food has strongly influenced the way Uruguayans eat today ​[2], [3]​.

Popular Uruguayan dishes

The cuisine is strikingly similar to that of Argentina, which we visited previously and the majority of traditional dishes are found in both countries. Among the popular meat-based dishes, you will find the traditional big meat barbecue, the asado. A popular family and friends event for weekends and special occasions across most of South America ​[1], [2]​. If the meat isn’t put on the barbecue as is, it can be turned into different sausages such as the small pancho ​[4]​[4]​​ or a choripan ​[5]​, a chorizo served in a baguette with different toppings like onion, tomato or chimichurri, the amazing parsley based sauce we made for our visit to Argentina ​[1], [5], [6]​. Another popular way to enjoy your meat when you don’t have time to fire up the barbecue is as a chivitio, a large sandwich filled with pig, eggs and cheese ​[1], [6]​. Or flattened, breaded and fried, served with tomato sauce, Milanese style ​[6], [7]​.

Among the more vegan-friendly dishes, you can find empanadas. These dough parcels are popular all across South America and Latin America and fillings vary from country to country and region to region. In Uruguay, they are unsurprisingly usually filled with cow and cheese ​[6]–[8]​. Among the more local specialties, you can find empanadas filled with fish, onion and pepper or even dulce de leche (more on dulche de leche below).

There are several Italian dishes that have become very popular in Uruguay. Pasta is very popular and in the Uruguayan capeletis a la Caruso style, it is filled with, you guessed it, cow and dressed with a cream based sauce with onion, mushroom and more meat ​[6], [7]​. Polenta is another Italian specialty that found it’s way to Uruguay. While polenta is often eaten as a porridge-like side in Italy, in Uruguay it is eaten as a main dish. Cheap and filling, the polenta is often served with some sauce, similar to pasta ​[2]​. The Italian farinata has been transformed into the local fainá, a fried pastry made from chickpea flour ​[7], [8]​. Just like in Argentina, it is often eaten as a pizza topping but it can also be served as a snack alongside a glass of wine.

Vegan churros with dulce de leche

In the meat heavy traditional cooking that is the Uruguayan cuisine, I decided to make a dessert. Originally from Spain, the churro is a short or long strand of deep fried dough rolled that is very popular across South America ​[1], [6], [7]​. Churros are either enjoyed plain with sugar and sometimes cinnamon or with some dipping sauce, such as molten chocolate or ice cream. While the base churro is very similar across South America, the sauces and toppings it is served with varies from region to region. In Uruguay, dulche de leche is often served alongside churros or even injected as a filling.

When sourcing the churro recipe below, I came across a few variations. The base dough is made from boiling water with butter or oil and then mixing in wheat flour ​[9]–[11]​. Some, but not all, recipes also mixed in eggs. So if you’re lucky, you may come across unintentionally vegan churros in the wild. But if you don’t fear not, because they are very easy to make. The dough takes minutes and then you just have to pipe it out and fry it. There are even several baked versions out there for an even easier (and healthier) cooking process ​[12], [13]​.

Dulche de leche – caramelized milk

Dulce de leche (candy of milk), is a sweet, thick sauce made from simmering milk and sugar for hours and hours. The origin of the sauce is contested, with many claims all across South America and Europe ​[14]​. A modern shortcut can be taken by simmering a can of sweetened, condensed or evaporated milk but it is still a long process. The long heating at ~75-90°C causes the sugars to caramelize, a process which is very slow at these low temperatures. Usually you would caramelize sugar alone in a pan, at temperatures of ~160°C. From the previous post on pH and the Maillard reaction, you may recall that heating protein or amino acids with sugar produces the tasty browning seen when roasting or frying foods. Chemical reactions like caramelization and the Maillard reactions occur faster at higher temperatures but they do occur at a low rate even at lower temperatures such as when heating milk and sugar for hours or the famous black garlic which is normal garlic heated to 60°C for weeks ​[15]​.

In the recipe below, a can of condensed, sweetened coconut milk is heated in a water bath for 2-3 h, turning it thicker, darker and most importantly, develops rich, complex flavours ​[16], [17]​. When you do this, be sure to have the can covered with water. If the entire pot dries out, the temperature will increase and the can can explode. The water ensures the temperatures don’t reach too high levels. Check on the can every now and then.

Sourcing condensed coconut milk: If you are looking for condensed coconut milk, try a health food store or a store heavy in vegan options. Since I recently moved to Vancouver, it took me a few store visits before I found a can. I have tried making dulche de leche with different brands of condensed coconut milk and there are differences between them. The lazy vegan baker does a nice side-by-side comparison of two common brands here in North America ​[17]​.

If you have dulche de leche left over after finishing all your churros, you can eat it as an ice cream topping or include it in other desserts, like banofffee pie or banana split. In Uruguay it is very popular in all kinds of cookies, pastries and desserts, as a sandwich topping or even in oreos and empanadas in some places ​[7], [14]​.

Conclusion

I have never made churros before and was surprised at several points along the way. First that the dough was made by boiling water and fat, similar to how an eclaire or petit choux is made. The second surprise was how incredibly stiff the dough actually is and how much pressure you need to pipe it. My piping tip fell out a few times and the bag got deformed as well, stretching and bulging strangely. And lastly, I was surprised at how crisp the churros turned out. Overall, a very fun and simple little baking project well worth trying. And of courser, the results were delicious but who had any doubts about fried dough with dulche de leche?

Print

Churros with dulce de leche

Course Dessert, streetfood

Cuisine Latin American, Uruguay

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Dulce de leche 2 hours hours

Ingredients

Dulce de Leche

• 1 can condensed coconut milk

Churros

• 200 mL water
• 2 tbsp plantbased margarine
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 200 mL all purpose flour
• ~200 mL oil for deep frying amount depends on your pot
• sugar for coating

Instructions

Dulce de leche

• Can be made in advance.
• Place can of condensed coconut milk in large pot and cover with water, a few centimeters above the can. Bring pot to a low simmer, reduce heat to low.

  Let simmer for 2-3 h.

  Check occasionally and make sure the can is covered with water
• Let cool before opening the can.
• Can be made a few days in advance and stored in the fridge.

Churros

• Mix water, margarine, salt and sugar in a pot. Bring to a simmer and allow margarine to melt.
• Mix in the flour. The dough will be very stiff.
• When cool enough to handle, fill a piping bag with the dough.
• Heat oil for deep frying. About 150°C.

  If you don't have a thermometer, you can try adding a small piece of dough. It shoudl start bubbling straight away and turn golden in about 1 min.
• Pipe strands of dough onto a parchment sheet, using a knife or scissors to cut it from the bag. This requires a lot of force as the dough is very dense. Pipe out a few strands (5-7) and add to the oil in batche.

  You can pipe straight into the oil bath but this is a bit of a safety issue.
• Deep fry the strands for a few minutes, until they start to turn golden.

  Place on a paper towel to get rid of some oil and then roll in sugar.
• Enjoy with your dulce de leche. The churros can be eaten straight away or enjoyed a few h later.