🍩 Tulumbe
Tulumbe is the Balkan version of the syrup-soaked fried pastry: an egg-enriched choux dough is piped into ridged fingers, deep-fried and then soaked in a lemon-scented sugar syrup. The shell is crisp and the inside soft, airy and dripping with syrup. It is a popular sweet in Bosnian, Serbian and Macedonian pastry shops, served on its own with coffee.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 ml water
- 1 tbsp oil, plus oil for deep-frying
- 150 g plain flour
- 3 eggs
- 400 g sugar and 350 ml water for the syrup
- 1 lemon, juice and a few slices
- Pinch of salt
Method
- Boil the sugar with 350 ml water and the lemon slices for 10 minutes, add the lemon juice and let the syrup cool.
- Bring 250 ml water with 1 tbsp oil and salt to a boil, add the flour at once and stir over low heat until a smooth ball forms.
- Cool slightly, then beat in the eggs one at a time to make a glossy choux dough.
- Pipe 5–6 cm ridged fingers into oil at about 160 °C and fry until puffed and golden.
- Soak the hot pieces in the cold syrup for a few minutes, drain and serve.
How to make it lighter
- Make the syrup lighter by using a little less sugar and more lemon juice.
- Pipe smaller fingers so a portion of 2–3 pieces satisfies without a large plate.
- Drain the pieces on a rack after soaking instead of serving them in extra syrup.
History
Tulumbe came to the Balkans with Ottoman cuisine and is closely related to Turkish tulumba. Today it is a fixture of traditional pastry shops in Bosnia and Herzegovina and neighbouring countries.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →