Churros & Pandan Flavoured "Kaya" Dip

Yesterday I wanted to eat fried dough sticks, Thai style...but I didn't have "Ammonium bicarbonate powder", one of important ingredients, in store...So a flash idea popped up with the name "Churros", delicious Spanish Fritters!!! The funniest part of Churros making, as I could recall from my previous making: using a pair of scissors to cut the dough from cookie tube, into hot boiling oil in a heavy based saucepan:-) 
I love eating them in short sticks as they are more crispy-crunchy than the traditional sized ones. This time, I slightly adjusted churros ingredients' measurement from a very easy & practical Spanishfood.about.com to my own preference, served with homemade pandan flavoured "Kaya" dip, coconut jam, made from coconut milk, egg yolks, flavoured with pandan leaves and sweetened with sugar.  Lovely Saturday, indeed!

Ingredients:
125g multi-purpose flour or plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons caster sugar
a good pinch salt
125g water
1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil (I used Olive oil for mixture)
Palm oil for frying
for Churros preparation, step by step, you can therefore visit the following link:
http://spanishfood.about.com/od/dessertssweets/r/churros.htm

Kaya is sort of Crème pâtissière (Pastry Cream), South East Asian version. We use coconut cream in lieu of cow milk, and without butter or vanilla pod...Its method & the rest of ingredients: the same ( Sugar and Egg Yolks)! "Kaya" is literally translated as "Coconut Jam" because it is usually seen as popular accompaniment of toast or local "Cakoi" (or fried dough sticks), and can be found in almost any Kopi Tiam in the region. There are two flavours: Original and Pandan. My preference: Pandan!

Homemade "Kaya" Recipe:

3 eggs

125g sugar

170 ml coconut milk
(for those who avoid coconut milk, you can substitute with cow milk)

6-9 pandan leaves

(you'll have almost 1 cup of pandan juice)

2,5 tablespoons Corn flour

• Pandan leaves, pressed and blended with 100 ml water, and strain for pandan juice;
• In a large bowl, crack in eggs. Add in coconut milk and pandan juice using a hand whisk, then strain;
• Add sugar, corn flour and a pinch of salt (If you'd prefer a bit salty taste) into the egg mixture. 
• Gently stir the mixture till sugar has been dissolved. Strain again. 
• Then pour the ready-mixture into a medium sized stainless-steel milk saucepan;
• Boil water in a heavy based pan with medium heat.
• Place the saucepan into the pan (bain-marie method), stir the mixture till it has thickened ***Kaya mixture must be stirred consistenly and in the same direction to avoid lumps as well as must be cooked for at least 45 minutes with the bain-marie method (or about 1,5 hours on double boiler) to get the fragrant taste and to enable it to last longer***.
• Served warm, with steamed toasts or grilled toasts or Churros, of course:-)) Enjoy!

...Life is Art...

"I think everything in life is art,

What you do, how you dress,

The way you love someone,

and how you talk. 

Your smile and your personality,

What you believe in,

and all your dreams.

The way you drink your tea,

How you decorate your home,

or party; your grocery list,

the food you make,

How your writing looks,

and the way you feel..."

--Unknown author