Tequeños
Fried cheese sticks
Venezuelan fried pastry-wrapped white cheese sticks
Tequeños are said to come from Los Teques, the town in the hills outside Caracas, and they are the party food of Venezuela: no birthday, wedding or office celebration is without a tray of these crisp pastry fingers wrapped around salty white cheese. The dough is spiralled around the cheese, then fried so the pastry is crunchy and the cheese just starts to melt. Serve with guasacaca (avocado sauce) or a sweet chilli dip. Use a cheese made with vegetarian rennet. Chef's tip: overlap each spiral of dough slightly and seal the ends well, or the cheese escapes into the oil.
- Total time
- 45 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
For the dough
- 9 oz plain flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ¾ oz cold butterdiced
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup cold wateras needed
For filling and frying
- 10 ½ oz firm salty white cheese such as queso blanco duro or halloumicut into 24 sticks about 1 × 1 × 7 cm, vegetarian rennet
- 4 ¼ cups vegetable oilfor deep frying
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Mix 9 oz plain flour, 1 tbsp sugar, ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp baking powder. Rub in 1 ¾ oz cold butter until it looks like breadcrumbs.
Step 2: Add 1 egg and enough ¼ cup cold water to bring it together into a firm, smooth, non-sticky dough. Knead for 3 minutes, wrap and rest for 15 minutes.
Step 3: Roll the dough out thinly, about 2 mm, into a large rectangle and cut into strips 1.5 cm wide and about 40 cm long.
Step 4: Press one end of a strip onto the end of a 10 ½ oz firm salty white cheese such as queso blanco duro or halloumi stick, then wind it around in a spiral, overlapping each turn slightly, until the cheese is completely covered. Pinch both ends closed. Repeat.
Step 5: Heat 4 ¼ cups vegetable oil to 350°F over a medium-high heat. Fry the tequeños in batches until golden brown and crisp, 2–3 minutes, turning once. The common mistake is frying in oil that's too cool, which makes the cheese burst out before the pastry crisps.
12 minStep 6: Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 430 kcal
- Protein
- 17 g
- Carbs
- 34 g
- Fat
- 25 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does tequeños take?
- About 45 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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