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Tulumba

The dough is piped straight into the oil and snipped to length with wet scissors.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter).

Ingredients

the dough

the syrup

to fry

Method

  1. THE DOUGH IS PIPED STRAIGHT INTO THE OIL AND SNIPPED TO LENGTH WITH WET SCISSORS. Not piped onto a tray and then lifted in -- a choux dough is far too soft to be moved without losing its ridges. The bag is held over the pan and a length of dough extruded, and a pair of scissors dipped in water cuts it off to fall in. Wet scissors because dry ones drag and tear the dough instead of cutting it. Five centimetres at a time.
  2. IT GOES INTO COLD OR BARELY WARM OIL AND THE HEAT IS RAISED UNDER IT. This is the opposite of ordinary deep frying and it is what gives the hollow inside. The pieces sit in cool oil and warm through slowly, so the steam builds inside before the shell has set, pushing the pastry open; then as the oil comes up to temperature the outside crisps around that cavity. Dropped into hot oil, the shell sets instantly, there is nowhere for the steam to go, and the pastry stays dense and heavy with a raw centre.
  3. IT IS FRIED SLOWLY FOR A LONG TIME -- FIFTEEN TO TWENTY MINUTES. Far longer than it looks like it needs. They must be dried right through or they collapse the moment the syrup hits them. Deep golden all over, and audibly light when tapped against the side of the pan.
  4. A RIDGED NOZZLE IS NOT DECORATION. A star or ridged tip. The grooves greatly increase the surface area, which is what gives the crisp exterior and what holds the syrup; a smooth tube is slippery and the syrup runs off it.
  5. THE LEMON JUICE IN THE DOUGH STOPS THEM SPLITTING. A teaspoon. It keeps the pastry from bursting open in the oil and spitting, which choux without it will do.
  6. COLD PASTRY INTO COLD SYRUP. Both completely cool -- which is unusual, as most of these pastries want hot pastry. Here, the fried shells are drained and cooled, then put into cold syrup for two or three minutes only, and lifted out. It keeps them crisp outside while the cavity fills. Hot into hot and they go soft all through.
  7. The syrup ingredients boiled 12 MINUTES and LEFT TO COOL COMPLETELY.
  8. The water, butter and salt brought to the boil.
  9. The flour and semolina tipped in at once and beaten over the heat 3 MINUTES, until the dough leaves the sides.
  10. Cooled 10 MINUTES, then the eggs beaten in one at a time, and the lemon juice.
  11. Spooned into a piping bag with a RIDGED nozzle.
  12. The oil poured into a deep pan and left COLD or barely warm.
  13. The dough piped over the pan and SNIPPED OFF with WET SCISSORS into 5 cm lengths, falling into the cold oil.
  14. THE HEAT THEN TURNED ON, to medium.
  15. Fried 15 to 20 MINUTES as the oil comes up, turning, until deep golden and audibly light.
  16. Drained on a rack and COOLED COMPLETELY.
  17. The cold pastries put into the COLD syrup 2 to 3 MINUTES ONLY, then lifted out onto a dish and the surplus syrup POURED OFF.
  18. TESTED: broken open, each should be hollow and still crisp outside. Dense means the oil was hot when they went in.
  19. Eaten the same day.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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