Politiki Touloumbes (Τουλούμπες Πολίτικες)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •heavy wide pot, 24-26cm, with at least 7cm depth
• •12-14mm open star nozzle and sturdy piping bag
• •cooking thermometer
• •spider skimmer
• •wide shallow syrup bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the Syrup

   Put the 600g sugar, 420ml water, and lemon peel in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring only until the sugar dissolves, then boil for 6 minutes. Add the lemon juice and boil 1 minute more. Pour the syrup into a wide bowl, remove the peel, and chill until fully cold.

   Make the syrup first. Touloumbes go from the fryer into cold syrup, so the fried ridges drink without turning limp.
2. 2

   Cook the Dough

   In a heavy saucepan, bring the 250ml water, butter, 10g sugar, and salt to a full boil. Pull the pan off the heat and add the flour, semolina, and cornstarch all at once. Stir hard with a wooden spoon until no dry flour remains, then return to low heat and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until the dough pulls from the sides and a thin film coats the bottom of the pan.

3. 3

   Beat in Eggs

   Transfer the dough to a mixer bowl or a sturdy mixing bowl and let it cool 8 to 10 minutes, until warm but not hot. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. The finished paste should be glossy, sticky, and stiff enough to hold deep ridges. If it pours, the touloumbes will flatten.

4. 4

   Pipe the Ridges

   Fit a sturdy piping bag with a 12-14mm open star nozzle and fill it halfway. Pour the oil into a heavy pot, no more than one-third full, and warm it to 130°C. Hold the nozzle close to the oil and pipe 6cm lengths, cutting each one with oiled scissors. Give them room. They puff as they fry.

   The ridges are not decoration. They are the little channels that hold the syrup, so a round nozzle gives you the wrong sweet.
5. 5

   Fry Slowly

   Raise the heat gently so the oil climbs to 155-160°C. Fry the touloumbes 8 to 10 minutes, turning often, until they are deep amber, firm along the ridges, and light for their size. Pale touloumbes soften in syrup. For the next batch, let the oil fall back to about 130°C before piping again.

6. 6

   Soak in Syrup

   Lift the hot touloumbes with a spider and drain them for 20 seconds, then drop them into the cold syrup. Turn them for 2 to 3 minutes, until glossy and heavy with syrup, then move them to a rack set over a tray. If the syrup warms up, pause and chill it again.

7. 7

   Rest and Serve

   Let the touloumbes rest at least 20 minutes before serving, so the syrup settles into the ridges. Serve at room temperature with Greek coffee. They are best the day they are fried; an airtight box softens the crust, so cover them only loosely.

Chef Tips

• •Use fine semolina, not coarse. Coarse semolina leaves hard specks in the dough, while fine semolina helps the fried shell keep a little bite under the syrup.
• •Don't waste your best Koroneiki oil in the deep fryer. A clean sunflower oil is right here; good olive oil belongs where you taste it clearly.
• •These are not nistisima, fasting food, because the eggs give the cooked dough its puff. For Lent, a Greek kitchen reaches for loukoumades or semolina halva, not an eggless imitation wearing the same name.

Advance Preparation

• •The syrup can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept chilled.
• •Bring the eggs to room temperature 30 minutes before making the dough, so they beat in smoothly.
• •Fry the touloumbes the day you serve them. The syrup can wait; the crisp ridges cannot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 220g)