Churros the latest snack craze
JASIN: With more and more outlets popping up in Malaysia offering churros, clearly these golden deep-fried snacks have become a craze here.
Claimed by the Spanish as their dessert, churros are also popular in Mexico, Portugal, France, the Philippines, Peru, Venezuela and Colombia, just to name a few.
Enjoyed warm and served coated in sugar and cinnamon, the crispy sticks can also be dipped in different sauces.
While some local enthusiasts may feel that churros offered here are not on par with those abroad, they probably have not chanced upon those sold in the little town of Jasin in Malacca.
Take a stroll through Jasin’s Pasar Malam on Saturdays and the usual stalls line the streets not far from the Ubaidullah Mosque.
Amid tables displaying wares such as clothing, fruits and packs of food and drinks, another sells freshly fried churros.
It was a little past 5.00pm and business was slow, or so it seemed.
After the first few customers, crowds formed around the table as they waited for new batches of churros.
Their faces looked eager to get their hands on the paper bags containing warm churros before the rain started to pour from the gloomy sky.
Behind the table, Hafsah Umar Barnett and Imraan Umar Barnett quickly pipe out dough from the heavy duty churros maker and pop them into hot oil.
Before they pack five churros in each paper bag, they sprinkle dashes of sugar and cinnamon over the long pieces of pastry.
Customers can choose to have their toppings sprinkled over or packed in small containers.
It was in March 2015 that Hafsah took the plunge and quit her teaching job as an English lecturer at a college in Kuala Lumpur to begin her food business in Jasin.
“Cooking was never a hobby of mine, but it is something I just happen to be good at,” the 27year-old of Malaysian-Bahamian parentage said with a laugh.
She admitted that she did not cook often, but when the mood strikes she could cook up a storm.
“Give me any recipe, I can make it for you,” she said with big smile.
Though Hafsah graduated with a Diploma in Early Childhood Education from the College of Bahamas, she is no stranger to business as her father Umar Ralph Barnetthad always been in the business line.
Before she started her food business she knew it had to be something easy and fast. Something like churros.
The perfect churros, said Hafsah, is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
The batter for churros, which has a choux pastry consistency, can be whipped up earlier in the day using simple ingredients. It took Hafsah some experimenting to achieve the perfect recipe.
When asked how long each churro is, she replied the dough is piped out into six-inch sticks.
“The tip of the piped dough will naturally curve at around six inches and that is how I know when to stop piping,” she explained.
A kilogramme of batter can yield about seven packs or 35 churros and they usually come prepared with six kilogrammes of batter each time they go out to sell. When batter runs out, a new batch can be quickly whipped up and sent to their stall.
To complement the churros, Hafsah said the pastry is served with homemade dipping sauces such as the ever popular dulce de leche, chocolate and strawberry.
Besides the night market on Saturday, their churros is also sold in Taman Maju on Wednesdays and Jasin Bestari on Fridays.
In August of 2016, Hafsah took another step forward and opened up a restaurant in Jasin town.
The Pizza N Burger Shack offers a mouthwatering selection of Western favourites such as homemade burgers and pizzas, in addition to several local dishes.
“We have nasi lemak and nasi Arab on the menu too. Malaysians just have to have their rice!” laughed the Jasinborn entrepreneur who grew up in the Bahamas.
Hafsah comes in early to prep for the day with the help of one staff while her other brother Haneef, 20, takes charge of the drinks and front counter.
“We make everything from scratch. Everything is homemade like the patties and even the burger buns,” she added.
The outlet opens its doors to greet lunch crowds from 12.30pm and opens until 10.00pm.
When Hafsah and her father opened the outlet with about RM100,000, they got themselves a dependable kitchen and basic setup for customers to dine in.
“We started the restaurant with our own money and took no loans so there is still a lot that we would like to do to the place when our finances permit it,” she admitted.
Glancing at the current decor, she said she hoped to eventually get a proper signboard for the restaurant and put up a glass shop front.
“Wood flooring and having the walls repainted in warm hues like orange and red would be nice too!” she said pointing at the restaurant’s sky blue walls.
The ultimate target is to turn the place into a familyfriendly restaurant where people feel comfortable enough to enjoy their meal, but not too comfortable that they will stay on for hours.
“I want to have a fast food concept where there is a constant flow of people, so there won’t be a TV here,” said Hafsah, adding that people tend to stick around longer when there is a TV on the premises.
Realising the fragility of Jasin’s market, Hafsah continues to seek new ideas to attract customers to their eatery.
“We’re coming up with a dessert menu and even thinking of venturing into catering,” she revealed.
Despite a lack of advertising, the restaurant continues to receive a steady stream of customers through word of mouth.
Now, updates on the restaurant is also available on their Facebook page Pizza N’ Burger Shack as well as Instagram, @PizzaNBurgerShack. Bernama