Bunuelos or Buñuelos
Recipe of Colombian Corn Fritters

Get ready to entertain during Christmas time or simply serve a tasty brunch Latino Style with buñuelos. These delicious savory or sweet balls of corn come from the Moors who occupied Granada in the south of Spain for many years.

Origins of Buñuelos

The typical corn fritters Arabs used to make, were a mass of dough fried in oil and submerged in boiling honey. In ancient times Moors street vendors sold buñuelos every day.

The word buñuelo may come from the French "beignet" or the roman word "puñuelo" which represented a ball the Romans made with their hands.

Bunuelos are versatile because they can be mixed with yeast, egg, milk, and water. They can be sweet or savory depending on the filling or the country they are made.

Easy Bunuelos or Buñuelos Recipe

Here is a simple recipe for buñuelos from our Colombian food expert Patricia McCausland included in her book "Secrets of Colombian Cooking" a Hippocrenne Publishing book.

Ingredients:

How to Prepare:

1.Place the cheese in the food processor and mix to a fine grind, approx 30 seconds. Add starch, corn flour, sugar and salt process 10 seconds more. Drop the egg while the processor is on and continue mixing for 1 minute or until the dough has formed and leaves the sides of the processor bowl.

2.In a deep heavy pot, heat the oil to 325F. Form 1-inch balls and drop into the oil, they should float after about 30 seconds. Decrease the heat to 300F and cook covered for 5 to 7 minutes or until golden. Drop few buñuelos at once as they will expand and turn by themselves and will need enough space in the pot for this to happen.

3.Drain over paper towels and serve.