Turkish Tulumba Dessert (Tulumba Tatlisi) is made of a special type of dough fried and then soaked in sweet lemony syrup. Crunchy on the outside, soft and juicy on the inside.
Love Turkish desserts with a lemony syrup? We have a lot of these in Turkish cuisine. And you can find several of them on the blog. Turkish baklava (easy way) is our all time favorite but we do LOVE tel kadayif and künefe dessert as well.
What Is Tulumba?
Tulumba Tatlisi is a Turkish dessert which is one of the most eaten sweets in Turkey. It is like the couisin of halka tatlisi. Its dough is first cooked in a pan and then squeezed into oil through a piping bag with a star nozzle. Then these golden fried dough pieces are soaked in a lemony syrup.
Tulumba is one of the cheapest desserts in Turkey, so everyone can buy it at any time. When people have occasions like weddings or islamic memorial ceremonies aka mevlit, they prefer to serve tulumba to their large group of guests.
It is generally served on a plastic plate with some toothpicks so that you can eat the dessert with them. This is of course something for large occasions. We definitely have it with a fork or we just enjoy it with our fingers when we have it at home!
Ingredients
We have two types of ingredients in this tulumba dessert.
For the syrup, we need sugar, water and lemon juice. For the dough, we need water, butter, flour, eggs, semolina and cornstarch. Plus we need oil for frying.
Instructions
The recipe has 5 folds.
First, make the syrup. Put sugar, water and lemon juice in a pot and bring it to boil. Let it simmer for 10 minutes, remove from heat and let it cool.
Second, make the dough. To do this, put water and butter in a pot.
Heat it until the butter melts, stirring occasionally.
Gradually add in the flour when the water boils and butter melts.
Mix fast well with a wooden spoon as we do when making flour halvah until you have a non-sticky dough, about 10 minutes over low heat.
Transfer the dough into a mixing bowl and let it cool completely and add in semolina and cornstarch.
Next, add in the eggs. Break one egg each time and mix either with a spoon or your hands until you have a creamy dough. Transfer it into a piping bag with a star nozzle.
Then, fill a frying pan with oil. And squeeze the dough into cold oil using an oiled scissors. Put the pot over medium heat and cook the tulumba dough pieces until they double in size. The slower they are fried, the crunchier they get.
Finally, transfer the fried tulumbas into cold syrup and let them absorb the syrup for 2 minutes. Then transfer them on a plate or bowl using a slotted spoon.
Before frying the rest of dough, let the frying oil cool and repeat the same steps.
Tips and Tricks
- Make sure the dough you cook in the pan cools down completely before adding in the eggs. Otherwise, the eggs will be almost cooked.
- Use scissors to cut the batter you squeeze from the piping bag. Dip the knives of the scissors into oil so that they don't stick to the batter when cutting.
- The oil should be cold when you squeeze the batter into it. Never use hot oil! After squeezing the batter, put the frying pan over medium heat. Cook until the pieces double in size and get a nice golden color.
- When you finish with the first batch, turn the heat off and let the oil cool completely. Only then start with the second batch.
More Turkish Desserts
As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!
Sign up for the FREE GiveRecipe Newsletter to get the new recipes into your inbox! And stay in touch with us on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram for all the latest updates.
📖 Recipe
Tulumba Tatlisi Recipe
Turkish Dessert Tulumba is a simple yet tasty dessert!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 50 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients
Syrup:
- 3 ½ cup sugar
- 3 cups water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Dough:
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 and ½ cup flour
- 2 tbsp semolina
- 1 tbsp starch
- 3 eggs
- Oil to deep fry
Instructions
- Start preparing its syrup. Put water and sugar in a pot and bring it to a boil. Add in lemon juice and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Let it cool completely.
- Meanwhile start preparing the dough. Put water and butter in a pot. Heat it over medium heat until the butter melts, stirring occasionally.
- When it boils, slowly add in flour. Stir it fast with a wooden spoon until you have a nonsticky dough about 10 minutes over low heat.
- Take the pot from heat, transfer the dough into a mixing bowl and let it cool down.
- When it is cool enough, add in semolina and cornstarch.
- Then break eggs into it one by one and mix either with a spoon or with your hands until you get a creamy batter.
- Fill a frying pan with oil.
- Fill the batter into a piping bag with a star nozzle.
- Squeeze dough pieces into cold oil.
- Put the pan over medium heat and fry the dough pieces until they double in size.
- When they are golden fried, remove with a slotted spoon and transfer them into cold syrup.
- Let them sit in the syrup for 1-2 minutes and transfer in a large bowl.
- Before frying the rest of dough, let the frying oil cold and repeat the same steps.
- Serve warm or cold topped with crumbled pistachios.
Notes
- Make sure the dough you cook in the pan cools down completely before adding in the eggs. Otherwise, the eggs will be almost cooked.
- Use scissors to cut the batter you squeeze from the piping bag. Dip the knives of the scissors into oil so that they don't stick to the batter when cutting.
- The oil should be cold when you squeeze the batter into it. Never use hot oil! After squeezing the batter, put the frying pan over medium heat. Cook until the pieces double in size and get a nice golden color.
- When you finish with the first batch, turn the heat off and let the oil cool completely. Only then start with the second batch.
Nutrition
- Calories: 38
- Sugar: 4g
- Sodium: 5.4mg
- Fat: 1.1g
- Carbohydrates: 6.4g
- Protein: 0.7g
- Cholesterol: 12.4mg
You might also like:
calin antonescu says
I think that you both are the most advised to give us some instruction about Turkish ice cream. I heard it is delicious. Thank you in advance
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Calin,
You can check out our recipe for Turkish ice cream.
Hope it helps 🙂
Sev Tsimos says
Hi Zerrin and Yusuf and thank you so much for sharing all your amazing and delicious recipes! May I ask if you mix the semolina and the cornstarch in to the cooled dough first before you start adding the eggs or all at the same time? Thank you in advance and cheers from Australia! Sev. 🙂
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Sev,
We are glad to hear that your are enjoying our recipes.
As for your question, add the semolina and cornstarch in the cooled dough, combine them well. Then break one egg and stir with a spatula, break the second egg and stir, break the third egg and stir until combined. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Yusuf & Zerrin
Sev Tsimos says
Thank you so much for your reply! So kind of you and very helpful indeed! Have a lovely and yummy day! 🙂
kuurdaa says
omg finally found the best tulum recipe🥰🥰
mobasir hassan says
Truly impressed and appreciate the way you made this delicious dessert Tulumba. After such a long time, a recipe like this really made me so happy. Looking forward for more such wonderful recipes in future too.
Onur says
What starch you using?
Zerrin says
It doesn't matter much. Either corn or wheat starch.