Chulas or fried milk

How to make cool or fried milk .

Breakfast or snack, this dessert recipe is still the favorite in my family. A way to remember my grandmother Lucrecia’s mastery.

Occasionally I make it at home as my grandmother prepared it. Although it does not come out the same because it was done by eye, the measurements did not go with it, what I needed  always told me.

Grandma left us a while ago and we continue to miss her very much. Even though she was already in poor health, she was a reason for the family to get together, always with a small smile and an enormous affection that was palpable in the first hug when she saw her.

Many of the recipes that you can read on the blog are his inheritance, directly or indirectly. Being glued to her skirts while cooking and telling you a story is one of the best memories I have.

She called  this dessert fried (very similar to  pancakes  but thicker), and with that name she stayed.

Although they are very similar to the typical  sweet carnival in sweet version. I never saw her throw breadcrumbs, turnip greens, pumpkin (in Pontevedra they call it calacú ), cooked chestnuts, white rice or make them with cornmeal.

I imagine that she goes by areas and in the Ribeira Sacra (Ourense) she prepared them as her mother previously did, although with lemon zest to flavor them.

In Spain we can find similar concepts such as crespillos or pumpkin chulas , famous sweets at Carnival and Easter .

In the parish of Moscoso (Pazos de Borbén) A Festa das Chulas is celebrated in early September . Where they make known this very famous dessert in towns like Casfigueiro, A Mariña or Xegunde in Lugo, although where they are most popular are in Ourense.

In Extremadura they are known as Repápalos or Sapillos , they are very popular in Cáceres. Although these are with bread and are usually served with milk as if it were soup. Whatever they call them, I assure you that they are very good, do not hesitate to try them.

Preparation of the cream of the milk chulas

The recipe is very simple, mix and go. It is best to prepare the cream and leave it in the fridge.

So you can prepare freshly fried for breakfast. A good alternative to the famous American pancakes or pankakes.

1. We wash the lemon well and grate it without reaching the white part of the fruit because it is bitter and we reserve.
2. The pasta of the chulas is quite easy to prepare. In a bowl, add the milk, flour, lemon zest, sugar, a pinch of salt and eggs.
3. Mix everything with the mixer without lumps.
4. Let it rest for an hour so that it finishes thickening.
5. Add the extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan and heat.

Frying and final presentation of the chulas or fried milk

1. The difficulty of this dessert is in the temperature of the oil, since if it is little hot it will be raw but if it is too hot it browns very quickly and remains raw inside.
2. When it is at medium high temperature, pour a small dose of cream with a ladle.
3. It is not necessary to put very full tablespoons, since the chulas swell in the oil. And if you use pastry flour they will swell a little more.
4. The first batch will serve us to try the following ones and they will be delicious.
5. When they are golden we remove them to an absorbent paper. When they are warm, coat with sugar and ground cinnamon. If you want less sugar, just sprinkle the dish a little over the top.

So the chulas would be perfect, freshly made is how they usually like, but I love them cold, from one day to the next.

I encourage you to try making them at home. You can see all the photos of the step by step of these cool or fried milk in this album.

Tips for some cool or fried milk pudding

• With these measures you will have a generous source, I assure you. You can accompany them with chocolate, quince, honey or cream.
• The way I like them is with the soft syrup that remains in the source after cooling. In one way or another, it is a very simple dessert perfect for beginners in the kitchen. And that both hot and cold is frankly good.
• Carmen Candal tells me in an email: “My mother made a version of the chulas, with the white paste of the freixo (in the part of Lugo that is me the pancakes are called those that carry blood), she fried onions with little oil , almost burned the onion, although it seems outrageous, I added the saucepans of the pasta and curdled them, that was done with little oil like pancake. ”