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.
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📖 Recipe
Tulumba Tatlisi Recipe
INGREDIENTS
Syrup:
- 3 ½ cup sugar
- 3 cups water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Dough:
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 and ½ cup flour
- 2 tablespoon semolina
- 1 tablespoon 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Christina says
I dont know how you sqeeze that dough out of a piping bag? I needed to ad 3 more eggs and water to even get it out...
And the syrup is way too thin the cakes get soggy and i had to heat them in the oven to make them dry 😳
Johana Nash says
Hi,
I mixed the batter as said but the dough was watery is it 2 cups of water or 1.
Thanks.
balannambiar says
Thank you for the awesome recipe..only I worried when oil is cold..it absorbed in the food we are frying..in any deep frying method using oil..why not just "crust" with medium heat and do all the way slow frying...if we want double the size for crunch the Tulumba why not add in some baking powder..baking powder well in acidic egg mixture. Why we using semolina flour?..to hold the doubling size when it is cold?..thank you again your marvelous recipe..
Kieron O'Connell says
To the moderator. Sorry, my mistake the recipe asked for 2 ½ cups of flour not 3 ½. My mistake. The quantity of syrup was still too much. Also note that when the mixture is placed in cold oil it sinks to the bottom and sticks, it is difficult to scrape sore dough off of the bottom without causing a sticky mess. It doesn't float until the oil heats. I would like to hear from people that have also had this problem and how to overcome it.
Kieron O'Connell says
I tried this recipe and it is totally WRONG. You cannot mix 3 ½ cups of flour into 2 cups of water and beat briskly, you end up with a big gooey clump of dough after just one cup of flour that you would never be able to beat briskly. Also the quantities prescribed for the syrup is twice as much as you would ever need and when I was finished I tipped most of it down the drain and was a total waste. Increase the quantity of water for the dough to 3 ½ to 4 cups. Halve all the quantities for the syrup.
Kim says
Hi there,
I have just come across this fantastic sounding recipe and I can almost taste them and would like to make them, a couple of questions first.
1) What type of flour, plain or SR?
2) What type of oil for frying?
#) And finally, appox how many will this recipe make?
Thank you for you time and for sharing
Kim
🙂
Zerrin says
Hi Kim, use plain flour for this recipe. And corn oil or sunflower oil work fine for frying these.Well, I got the recipe from a tulumba dessert store , so I'm not sure about the amount. I can just guess that it makes more than 50 since these tulumbas are small.
Kim says
WOW!! 50 fantastic.
Thank you
Maria says
Hello,
I wanted to make sure that it is 2 1/2 cups of FLOUR and 2 cups of WATER? Because if this is accurate, there is no way to mix it fast and for 10 minutes. It becomes so stiff right away? I have tried this recipe and they are delicious.
Thank you!
Arlette says
Hello Zerrin,
lovely dessert and beautiful photo.
I have a question about the frying method, don't you think if the dough is fried in semi hot oil it will soak too much oil and turn heavy instead of being soft and fluffy.. maybe he meant on low heat so the inside will cook at the same time with the outside before you turn the heat up.
Arlette
Zerrin says
Hi Arlette, it's important that the oil must be cold when you squeeze dough pieces into it. Then turn on the stove, both the oil and tulumbas inside it start to heat at the same time this way. And fry them over medium-low heat. This makes it crunchy outside and soft inside.
rojeen says
I made this today using this recipe and it tasted like eggs. i love these, they have them in my home in kurdistan but this had too much of an egg taste to me.
Zerrin says
That's interesting. Could it be because they are not combined well? Maybe the eggs you used are larger, then you can use 2 eggs instead.
Faye Levy says
Interesting that you add semolina at the end. Does it help make it crunchy? Also what kind of starch do you use?
Zerrin says
Hi Faye, semolina cooks faster than flour and adding starch and semolina later helps the dessert get puffy. You can use either wheat or corn starch, both work fine!
Nisha says
Saw your beautiful pictures on Pinterest and arrived here on your blog for the first time today.
I'm wondering how you achieved the yellow color - was it because of the eggs?
Zerrin says
Hi Nisha, thanks for visiting! The yellow color comes from deep frying. When dough is fried, it gets that yellow:)
Stacy says
Gorgeous, gorgeous photos! I'll be bookmarking your blog! 🙂
Zerrin says
Thank you Stacy! You have fantastic recipes on your blog too! Your panda cookies definitely rock!
Gera @ Sweets Foods Blog says
Zerrin this dessert Tulumba sounds very tempting. I need to try one when I can.
The aspect is similar to churros from here (filled them with chocolate or dulce de leche)….. those pics make me hungry for something sweet and soon!
Bizarre the frying method, at least for me 🙂
All the best,
Gera
Zerrin says
Hi Gera! How are you doing? Nice to see you here again! I've heard churros before but didn't know what kind of a food it is, thanks for informing. Our tulumba is like the plain version of churros, can't imagine these are filled with chocolate! Sounds heavenly!
lisaiscooking says
I want to taste this lovely dessert! The syrup coating sounds delicious.
Zerrin says
Hi Lisa! Nice to see you here again! This dessert is definitely addictive! I love the crunchy sound it makes when you bite it!
Reeni says
The way you describe them makes them sound so delicious Zerrin! Plus your pictures are stunning! I never saw this method for frying before - it's very different.
Zerrin says
That frying method was new to me too! I was surprised when the man in tulumba shop told me to start to fry them in cold oil. Then he explained that it is the most important tip for making tulumba dessert right way.
Rosa says
Thanks for the recipe! This is a treat I adore.
Your tulumba look perfect and extremely tempting.
Cheers,
Rosa