Buñuelos y Natilla - Colombian Cheese Fritters and Custard

Not-quite-round Buñuelos and Natilla

A Savoury and Sweet Colombian Pair

Buñuelos and Natilla are traditional Colombian Christmas snacks. Buñuelos are of hispanic origin and different versions are popular all over Latin America. The Colombian variety are savoury cheese fritters made of "farmer's cheese" or queso fresco. While some Colombians prefer to serve buñuelos with hot chocolate, my friend, Jairo, prefers it with natilla. Natilla is a firm custard that is thickened with cornstarch rather than eggs. I was not sure how a savoury cheese puff would go well with a sweet custard, so I asked Jairo to explain how one would go about consuming these snacks. According to him: "You eat them separately, first you bite a piece of natilla and after that you bite your buñuelo, just delicious".

Thanks to Jairo, I've discovered two new recipes and the cultural stories that come with it. I never knew these snacks existed till last week when I asked Jairo what dessert he missed from home. His birthday was round the corner and special occasions are always good inspirations for me to bake/cook something different.

Adapting the Original Recipes
While researching the recipes, I discovered that a lot of Colombians make buñuelos and natilla from packet mixes because it was quicker and still tasted great. Thankfully, a blogger with Colombian roots, Paola, came to my rescue with the recipes of how to make them from scratch. The original recipes are from the book called Secrets of Colombian Cooking by Patricia McCausland-Gallo.

Then, I came across another problem - finding the right ingredients or substitutions. I could not find the correct cheese that is required for the fritters and also the panela (similar to jaggery in Indian cuisine) for the natilla. Fortunately, Jairo said that I can be creative with my interpretation, so I did. Queso fresco is made by pressing the whey from cottage cheese and therefore a substitute could be Indian paneer or mild feta. My local grocery store sold out of paneer (!!) so I went with an Australian-style feta, which is a creamier, milder version of the Greek feta.

Kitchen Notes
Buñuelo: If there are any Colombians reading this right now, you must be wondering why my buñuelos are not round. They are supposed to look like this. Due to my adaptation of the recipe, I got a softer dough that refused to be rolled into balls. Instead of adding more cornflour, I tried my best to make a round-ish shape with two spoons before slipping it into the hot oil (FYI: This is my first time deep-frying anything). Hence the rustic look of these buñuelos (don't you just love the word "rustic"). I almost threw the dough away and thought of just giving Jairo the natilla. But I remembered what he told me: "You know, having natilla without buñuelos would be almost a capital sin." I just had to pray real hard that somehow he will like these imperfect-looking buñuelos that were made of feta.

Natilla: I had better luck with the natilla, it tasted so good, even if I didn't use panela. I added golden syrup because it gave the natilla a deeper flavour. Paola remembers her aunt stirring the natilla for hours on Christmas Eve. Fortunately, I didn't have to stir it for hours, but I did cook it long enough to remove the "raw" taste of the cornstarch and for the mixture to thicken.

The Verdict
Jairo considers my experiment a success (he is such a sweet guy, so I hope he was not just being nice). I liked the texture of these buñuelos use it's airy and pillowy inside although Jairo said that the original is more compact than these. As for the natilla, it was hard not to eat spoonfuls of it, so very moreish!

You judge for yourself :-) Here are the recipes of my version (interpretation) of buñuelos y natilla.

~ Buñuelos ~
Colombian-style Cheese Fritters
(original recipe by Patricia McCausland-Gallo here)

Golden brown and slightly crisp on the outside, and pillowy soft an airy on the inside.

Indredients
200g feta (or paneer) cheese
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 large egg
Vegetable oil (e.g. peanut, sunflower, canola) for deep-frying

Method

Place the cheese in a bowl and break it up with a fork. (If using paneer, you may need to add a salt to taste). Crack the egg on top of the cheese. Using a hand-held blender, blend the cheese with the eggs to form a smooth paste. You can also use a food processor. Add the sugar and cornstarch and mix it with a spatula till it is well blended.

Heat up a few inches of oil in a pot. Over medium heat, drop teaspoonfuls in the oil (I used two spoons to do this - use one spoon to scrape the dough off the other spoon). I cooked about 6-7 fritters at a time. The fritters should expand or "puff up" after about 30 seconds and shouldn't brown too quickly. If it does brown too quickly, then the temperature of the oil is too hot, so lower the heat slightly. This is not the traditional way to fry the fritters, see the original instructions for that. Turn the fritters occasionally so that they are golden brown all over, then remove the fritters with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature with natilla. Cool completely if you want to store them in an airtight container.

Mixing the ingredients to a smooth dough.

My first time deep-frying anything ever!!

~ Natilla ~
Columbian Christmas Custard
(inspired by the recipe by Patricia McCausland-Gallo)

Natilla firms up as it cools

Ingredients
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup cream
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 heaped tsp golden syrup
1 stick cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 tbsp butter
ground cinnamon for garnishing

Method

Place 1 cup of the milk, sugar, syrup, cinnamon and salt in a pot and simmer over low heat till the sugar and syrup has dissolved completely. Do not let the mixture boil.

In a small bowl, stir the remaining 1 cup of milk and the cornstarch until completely dissolved. Stir it into the sugar mixture on the stovetop.

Raise the temperature slightly and stir continuously to "cook" the cornstarch (the taste of uncooked flour is awful). Add the cream, then raise the heat again to medium, continuously stir and scrape the bottom of the pot until the mixture has thickened.

Remove the pot from the heat, add the butter, mix well and remove the cinnamon sticks. Pour the mixture into a mould or serving dish. You can coat the mould with oil spray and it will unmold very easily if you prefer to serve it on a platter. Sprinkle with the ground cinnamon. Let it cool and set before serving (it will be firm).