Tulumba (Turkish Fried Choux Fingers in Syrup)
تولومبا (شیرے میں ترکی تلی انگلیاں)
Tulumba are the ridged, golden fingers you see piled high in Turkish sweet shops next to baklava. The dough is cooked first in a pan, like choux pastry, then piped through a star nozzle straight into warm oil and fried slowly until crisp and hollow. Dropped into cold syrup, they soak it up through every ridge. Readers who love jalebi will find them familiar in spirit, but with a thicker, crunchier shell.
- ⏱ Total: 55 min
- Prep: 20 min
- Cook: 35 min
- Medium
- Serves 8
Method
Tap a step when it is done.
Boil the sugar and water for 10 minutes, add the lemon juice and cool completely.
Bring 1 cup water, the butter and salt to a boil. Tip in the flour and semolina all at once and stir hard for 2–3 minutes until it forms a smooth ball that leaves the pan. Cool for 10 minutes.
Beat in the eggs one at a time until the dough is smooth, glossy and thick enough to hold ridges. Spoon into a piping bag with a large star nozzle.
Put the oil in a pan while it is still only warm. Pipe 5 cm fingers into the warm oil, cutting with scissors, then turn on the heat to medium. Fry slowly for 10–12 minutes, turning, until deep golden and crisp.
Lift the hot tulumba into the cold syrup, soak for 3–4 minutes and drain. Serve at room temperature.
Serve with tea or coffee.
Kitchen notes
Start piping into warm, not hot, oil. Heating them up slowly lets them puff and turn hollow and crisp.
A large open star nozzle gives the deep ridges that catch the syrup.
They keep 2–3 days in an airtight box at room temperature.
The sweet-shop finger
Tulumba (tulumba tatlısı) is one of the cheapest and most popular sweets in Turkey, sold by the kilo in pastry shops and from street carts. The name comes from the word for a pump, after the syringe-like tool used to pipe the dough. It sits alongside baklava and lokma as part of the family of Turkish syrup sweets.
Choux dough, slow frying
The dough is cooked on the stove before frying, the same technique as French choux pastry and Spanish churros. Starting in warm oil and heating gradually lets the fingers puff from the inside, so they become hollow and crisp rather than dense.
Getting the syrup right
Like all Turkish syrup sweets, tulumba follows the opposite-temperature rule: the pastry goes in hot, the syrup is completely cold. The ridges then pull the syrup inside while the shell stays crunchy. Leave them in the syrup for a few minutes only; long soaking makes them soft. A spoon of lemon juice in the syrup stops it crystallising and balances the sweetness.
Serving
Serve at room temperature with Turkish tea or coffee. They’re also good with a scoop of plain ice cream. For a softer, ball-shaped cousin, try lokma.
Questions people ask
Why did my tulumba burst or stay raw inside?
The oil was too hot at the start. Begin in warm oil and raise the heat gradually.
Is it like churros?
Yes, the dough is very similar. Churros are rolled in sugar; tulumba is soaked in syrup.
Can I make it without a piping bag?
A thick freezer bag with a star nozzle pushed through a cut corner works well.
Nutrition (estimate, per serving)
- Calories
- 340
- Protein
- 4 g
- Fat
- 13 g
- Carbs
- 53 g
