Churros are a favorite of all Latin America countries but churros are not the only fried doughs that exist. In Peru I found the most variety of fried sweet doughs of any country I have ever travelled to. Which makes sense since Peru claims to have the most variety of everything; corn, potatoes, fish, passion fruits, etc.
Below are the versions that I found and I will leave you with a recipe for picarones which are the most famous fried dough snacks of Peru. Technically it’s not a churro but it is a sweet fried dough and all this falls under the Spanish family of “frutas de sartén” or fruits of the skillet, also known as sweet fried doughs.
1. Churros Caseros
These are a flour, oil, and water mix sprinkled with sugar or bathed in a sweet syrup. The shape is often long and thick.
2. Churros
Classic star shaped without any pronounced flavor or spices. This churro is something you would dip in chocolate or dulce de leche, hence the plain flavor of the fried dough.
3. Anise Churros
These are made with flour, egg, anise and sugar. Anise is a popular spice for flavoring desserts in Peru. You can find these only from street vendors.
4. Stuffed Churros
You can find churros stuffed with dulce de leche/arequipe, chocolate sauce or fruit jam. In Lima, Manolo is the place to buy them.
5. Camote Churros
The orange tint of these churros comes from sweet potatoes. I only found these from street vendors in Cusco and they were constantly running away from the local police since they didn’t have seller permits. So if you see them you need to buy them quick!
6. Yuca Churros:
Called Yuquitas locally, these have yuca flour, wheat flour, egg, sugar, yeast, and salt. These are incredible! These are very difficult to find, I found mine in the San Salvador district of Lima. You can’t find them in Miraflores. When I search for recipes on the internet I get a version that is fried yuca root. These are nothing like fried yuca. These are more like dense doughuts made with yuca flour.
7. Picarones
This is the most famous fried dough of Peru, even though fried doughs were introduced by Spain, Peruvians adopted this recipe and added native zapallo and camote (pumpkin family). These are the most ubiquitous and also served widely in fine dining restaurants around Lima. These are always topped with a panela (piloncillo or chancaca) syrup that has been spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and fig leaves.
Picarones Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 16 doughnuts 1x
Description
The most popular fried dough of Peru.
Ingredients
- Enough water to cover your sweet potato and zapallo, about 16 ounces (500 ml). Feel free to add more, you need some liquid for use in the recipe.
- 250 grams (7 ounces) of peeled sweet potato
- 250 grams (7 ounces) of peeled zapallo (or pumpkin with green skin)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon of whole anise
- 2 cloves
- 3 tablespoons of sugar
- 10 grams of instant yeast (1 tablespoon)
- 500 grams ( 1 pound) of all purpose flour
- oil for frying
For the sauce: - 200 grams of panela, piloncillo, chancaca
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 orange
- 1 fig leaf (leave out if you can’t find one)
- 2 whole cloves
- Boil all ingredients with 1 cup of water (250 grams) until it thickens and becomes a syrup. Strain and set aside.
Instructions
1. Boil the sweet potato, pumpkin, cinnamon stick, anise and cloves. Remove the pumpkin and sweet potato and puree in a blender with a small amount of the liquid. Reserve the rest of the liquid for the yeast and dough.
2. Use 1/2 cup (60 grams) of the reserved liquid from boiling the pumpkin and add the instant yeast and sugar. Let sit for 15 minutes in a warm place until it grows. Use a container that is very big, this will grow a lot.
3. Mix the liquid/yeast with puree and flour and 1 cup (250 grams) of reserved liquid from boiling. Add half of the water at a time, if the dough comes together and you don’t see any more dry flour, you don’t have to uset he rest of the water. Mix well, with your hands or in a mixer. You need to get the dough light and airy. Mix for about 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Place in a bowl, cover with towel and let sit for 2 hours until it rises. Make sure bowl is big enough to support the growth of the dough.
4. Heat oil to 330F (165C). With moist or oiled hands, take a bit of the dough and form a ring; drop in the oil and using a wooden chop stick rotate from the center. Flip once it turns light brown. Remove from oil and let sit on a plate lined with a paper towel.
*If the dough is too sticky, add more oil or flour to your hands. If they dough is still too sticky, add a spoonful of flour and mix until you get a dough that is strong enough for you to form into a ring. This dough is meant to be sticky.
Notes
All the sweetness of the dough comes from the sugar syrup. The doughnuts alone do not have any sweetness.
Watch this video for frying technique.
- Category: fried dough
- Method: mix and fry
Keywords: picarones, peru, fried doughs, churros