Kulkuls
These traditional Goan pastry curls are deep-fried and coated in a sugar syrup glaze. They are typically served at Christmastime, as part of a kuswar (Christmas sweet platter).
Servings 75 kulkuls
Equipment
- 1 kulkul roller (see Note 1).
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 25 g unsalted butter (or 15g ghee— see Note 2).
- 95 g plain flour
- 35 g fine semolina
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
- 25 g icing sugar
- 60 ml coconut milk (you may need more/less to get the right consistency).
For frying:
- Flavourless oil
For the sugar syrup (optional):
- 6 tbsp white caster sugar
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
Clarify the butter:
- If using ghee, skip this step. If using unsalted butter, put the butter into a small saucepan over low heat. Allow to melt, then cook, stirring every now and then, until milk solids separate and begin to brown. Strain through a fine sieve, lined with kitchen roll, and discard sediment. Allow clarified butter to cool slightly, until warm, not hot, before using in dough.
Make the dough:
- Mix together the flour, fine semolina and salt in a bowl.
- Drizzle over the warm clarified butter/ghee, then mix with a fork to incorporate. Switch to your hands and finish rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients. The mixture should resemble fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the icing sugar and mix through.
- Add the coconut milk, little by little, until the mixture comes together in clumps and holds together when you press some in your fist.
- Tip the dough onto a clean work surface and bring together with your hands. Knead until a smooth, elastic and soft dough forms.
- Place the dough into a bowl and covered with a damp tea towel. Leave to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling.
Roll the kulkuls:
- Oil the kulkul board liberally, then use a piece of kitchen roll to wipe off any excess.
- Pinch off a marble-sized piece of dough, making sure to keep the remaining dough covered with the damp tea towel while you work.
- Using your fingers, press the piece of dough into a thin layer over the surface of the kulkul roller.
- Working from the bottom of the dough, roll it up on itself to reveal the ridged pattern. To seal the join, roll the kulkul back and forth over the roller a couple of times.
- Place the kulkul on a tray, lined with baking paper, then repeat the process for the remaining dough.
Fry the kulkuls:
- To fry the kulkuls, heat an inch and a half of flavourless oil in a saucepan, fitted with a candy thermometer. Place it over high heat and allow the oil to come to 180°C.
- Gently lower in 6-8 kulkuls (I used a metal spider for this). Be careful, as the oil will bubble up. Keep an eye on the temperature as they cook, and adjust the heat as needed to keep the temperature steady at 180°C.
- When the kulkuls rise to the surface of the oil and are an even, brown colour, transfer them to a plate, lined with kitchen roll. Don't let the kulkuls get too dark in the oil, because the colour will continue to deepen as they sit.
- Repeat the frying process, in batches, for the remaining kulkuls. Once fried, the kulkuls can be served as they are, dusted with icing sugar or, if desired, tossed in a sugar syrup (see below).
Make the sugar syrup:
- If you want to glaze your kulkuls with a sugar syrup, make it after you have fried the pastries, so they have a chance to cool.
- Place the sugar into a frying pan, shaking it out into an even layer, then add the water.
- Place the frying pan over medium-high heat, and allow the sugar to melt, without stirring it. If necessary, give the pan a gentle swirl to help the sugar melt evenly. Brush down the sides of the pan liberally with water as the sugar melts to help prevent crystallisation.
- Once the sugar has melted, allow the syrup to bubble away for about a minute (or until 'thread stage' is reached).
- Remove the syrup from the heat and immediately add the cooled kulkuls. Stir to completely coat the pastries in the syrup, then quickly tip onto a tray lined with baking paper and use two forks to separate out the kulkuls before they set.
- Allow the kulkuls to sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes, until the sugar coating is cool and hard— it will turn opaque and white. Serve the kulkuls straight away, or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- A wooden/plastic gnocchi board, a plastic, fine-toothed (new, unused) comb or even a fork can be used for this.
- Ghee (a type of clarified butter, commonly used in Indian cooking) is traditionally used for this. If you don't have any, you can make your own clarified butter by following the instructions in this recipe. If you want to use ghee, make sure to use the smaller amount (15g, NOT 25g). More butter is required because the quantity decreases when it is clarified, due to the water in the butter evaporating/the milk solids being discarded.