Pumpkin or calacú chulas

How to make pumpkin chulas .

There is a time of year that I love and, as a good Ourensan I am, it cannot be other than Carnival or Entroido .

Throughout Galicia and especially in the province of Ourense, Carnival has always been lived in a very intense way. Surely many of you have heard of the towns of Xinzo, Verín and Laza , what we call the Carnival Triangle.

The festivities so particular that they are lived there during those dates, where not going in disguise is “punished” harshly by wars of raging ants, flour rain and other things that I better not tell you.

Without going to such extremes in the city of Ourense, the person who goes out into the street without disguise, regardless of age or condition, is rare, and like every self-respecting party in Galicia, there is a gastronomic repertoire to celebrate it.

There is never a lack of ears (orellas) , milk pancakes , broth or blood, fritters or  my grandmother Lucrecia’s milk chulas and, of course, today’s recipe, “pumpkin or calacú chulas”.

The chulas of pumpkin are not only typical of the period of Carnival , is also very common to prepare them in Samhain , or the Day of All Saints , Halloween for whites countries.

Samhain was the most important pagan holiday in Europe until the arrival of Christianity, the end of the harvest season was celebrated in the Celtic culture, counting from that day as a new year.

The fact is that either at carnival or Samhain , you can not go without preparing these chulas. The pumpkin gives them a characteristic softness and absolutely delicious flavor.

Preparation of the pumpkin chulas

1. We remove the outer rind of the pumpkin with a knife and cut it into pieces.
2. We put the pieces in a pot with boiling water and cook for 40 minutes, until we see that it is soft.
3. It is not necessary that the pieces are very small, once cooked we will crush them. Another option to prepare the pumpkin is to bake it until it is soft.
4. We place the pumpkin in a drainer and crush it with a fork.
5. We let it drain for 1 hour, so that it releases all the water it may have. 
6. We are interested that the pumpkin is dry without water, so as not to dilute the mixture.

Preparation of the cream of the pumpkin chulas

1. We put the crushed pumpkin in a large bowl and add the eggs. Beat until well blended. Add the sugar and mix again until it is integrated.
2. It is the time of the flour and the yeast, if possible we sift it with a strainer over the mixture.
3. The yeast that we are going to use is chemical yeast or baking powder (as they call it in America).
4. We add everything to the rest of the mixture, beat until creating a homogeneous and integrated cream.
5. We put a frying pan with plenty of extra virgin olive oil, the necessary so that it later covers the chulas, and heat over medium-low heat.
6. With the help of two spoons, we incorporate portions of the dough. We add a piece of dough as a test to the pan and when it is golden brown is when we must start frying.
7. I have used olive oil but for those who do not like the strong flavor it gives you can use sunflower oil.

Frying and presentation of the pumpkin chulas

1. We fry the chulas on both sides until golden, a few seconds is what it takes in the process. We remove to a plate with absorbent kitchen paper to remove the excess oil.
2. This process is very fast and we must control the oil because, to get the chulas to burn, we need the exact temperature.
3. We only have to sprinkle our freshly made chulas with powdered or powdered sugar to taste. I like it with a little icing sugar mixed with cinnamon powder, letting them soak in well.

Let cool and taste them freshly made, at room temperature or cold, just delicious. Although the best time to take them is freshly made, when they will still remain crispy on the outside and super tender on the inside, great.

You can see all the photos of the step by step of the recipe for pumpkin chops   in this album. Do not miss any detail and they will be perfect.

Tips for some fluffy pussies

• With this recipe we will get about 30 chulas approximately the size you see in the photos. Although you can make them bigger. It is a fairly cheap recipe and as you will have read, quite simple.
• In some areas of Ourense it is typical to bathe them with a good flower honey. Although they are very rich, they seem to me to be too sweet, but for the larpeiros I leave you the touch of honey that you will surely like.
• The success of the recipe is in controlling the temperature of the oil, the first time I made them they were a little charred, burned on the outside and raw on the inside.
• The oil was too hot and the amount of dough I put in the pan was excessive. So, as I recommend, the first fry of a little bit of dough. It is a perfect way to control the temperature of the oil. The first batch will serve us to try the following ones and they will be delicious.