Crunchy from outside and fluffy and syrupy inside, Balah El Sham is my new yummy treat to impress my loved ones. It is a special dessert to serve on family gatherings and special occasions. Let’s give this Balah El Sham recipe a-go!
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What Is Balah El Sham?
Balah El Sham is relish dough pieces fried to golden perfection which means “Levant Dates”. There are numerous spelling variations, including Balah Al Sham, Balah Sham, Balah Ash-Sham. It is also known as Tulumba, a popular dessert in all Middle eastern countries.
Tulumba also has Simple Syrup (Attar Syrup). Attar is a combination of sugar, water, and a squeeze of lemon juice boiled for 10 minutes. After you finish making Attar Syrup, soak the Tulumba in a bowl full of room temperature simple syrup. This results in crispy Balah Al Sham from outside and so moisty and syrupy from the inside.
What A Yummy Treat! Give It A Try!
Balah El Sham History
Balah El Sham is a Turkish dessert known as Tulumba Tatlisi. During the Ottoman era, Tulumba Tatlisi became one of the most famous sweets in the whole empire. Then, like other new recipes, it quickly spread to most parts of the middle east countries, Persia, Balkans, Central Asia, Central Europe, and Eastern European countries.
As it is a popular dessert in different countries, you can find it under different names. In Egypt and Syria, they call it Balah El-Sham, while it is known as Bamiyeh in Iran, and Datli in Iraq. It is also similar to Churros, the Spanish dessert.
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Is Balah El Sham a Dessert or a Snack?
Usually, Balah El Sham is served as a dessert. Yet, some people serve Tulumba as a snack. After you soak the Tulumba in an utterly divine Attar Syrup, sprinkle on the top sesame granules, rosebuds, or crushed pistachios, and enjoy this hearty fried choux pastry dough during your hot tea.
Recipe Variations
Balah El Sham dessert is versatile; you can garnish it with a variety of nuts based on your preference.
This fluffy choux pastry can be filled with pastry cream, whipping cream, custard, chocolate, nuts, or fruits.
You can also sprinkle your Tulumba with cinnamon sugar on the top, or dip them in another classic syrup such as chocolate syrup, honey, or caramel syrup.
Enjoy With A Hot Cup Of Tea!
Balah El Sham Ingredients
You will love how easy it is to make this Tulumba dessert with a handful of ingredients. The Tulumba ingredients are the following:
All-purpose flour: In this recipe, you will need all-purpose flour for the tulumba dough.
Corn starch: You will also need some corn starch for the dough.
Eggs: Eggs are a necessary component to make the dough softer. The eggs should be sitting at room temperature.
Water: Add the right amount of water to combine the dough and get the best result.
Unsalted butter: The tulumba recipe needs butter. It's recommended to use unsalted butter.
Sugar: In this recipe, you will need sugar for a dash of sweetness.
Salt: You will also need to add a pinch of salt to balance the flavors.
Crushed pistachios: Garnish your Balah El Sham with crushed pistachios, or any other type of nuts based on your preference.
Tulumba Ingredients
Tips and Tricks
- Once you add flour to the water, make sure you mix for a couple of minutes to combine and have a soft dough.
- It’s essential to let the dough cool down.
- Before you dip fritters or tulumba in the cooled syrup, drain on some paper towels for a few minutes to allow excess oil to drip.
- Make sure your simple syrup is at room temperature, don’t add hot tulumba to hot simple syrup. They will get soft and saggy.
- To have extra crunchy tulumba that can last up to 3 days, fry them twice. Once they are slightly golden, take them out of the oil and then fry them again until deep golden brown colour.
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Frequently Asked Questions
In case you add too many eggs, then the dough becomes too runny. To solve this problem, make another batch without adding eggs and combine both doughs together.
You can use a pastry bag with an 8-point star tip. The more points of the tip you use, then the more grooves the tulumba will have.
No, you should fry them on medium to low heat. When you fry them on high heat, the Tulumba turns to be in an irregular shape and flat.
Cover the Balah El Sham leftovers with a tight lid and store them in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If you notice that you will have leftovers, then it is better to store the dough than the pastry as they lose their crunchy texture.
The fried Tulumba must be dipped in the cold syrup for 10 minutes, so that the soft inside absorbs the simple syrup.
Yes, you can. But make sure that it is at room temperature when you want to soak Balah Al Sham in it.
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Ingredients
- water
- sugar
- salt
- unsalted butter
- all-purpose flour
- corn starch
- eggs
- crushed pistachios
How To Make Balah El Sham?
First, add water, sugar, salt, and butter to a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring it to a boil and turn the heat off.
Second, add flour and corn starch and keep stirring using a wooden spoon until all are combined. It has formed a none sticky dough that pulled away from the sides of the pan.
Then, place the dough in a bowl and let it cool down for 20 minutes.
Now, add one egg to the flour mixture at a time using a paddle attachment electric mixer and keep mixing until all are combined.
After that, transfer dough mixture to a piping bag with a large star tip.
Next, add oil to a large frying pan without turning the heat on. Pipe dough about 2-inch long tulumba and cut them with scissors.
Once you have piped as many as they can fit in the pan, turn the heat on medium heat and let them fry slowly, turn them when you think they are golden.
As well, keep deep frying them until they are golden brown, and you can fry them twice for the extra crunchiness.
Later on, take them out of the hot oil and add them to a bowl full of room temperature Simple Syrup. Allow excess syrup to drip on a paper towel or baking sheet.
Finally, place them on a serving plate and sprinkle crushed pistachios powder on top.
A Bite Of Tulumba For Your Sweet Cravings!
Other Desserts Recipes You Will Enjoy!
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- Moist Chocolate Cake With Whipped Cream Frosting
- Easy No-Bake Lotus Biscoff Cheesecake
- The Philadelphia Caramel-Pecan Cheesecake
- The Best Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch
- Glazed Lemon Pound Cake With Pudding
- No-Bake Nescafe Cake
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Balah El Sham
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons crushed pistachios
Instructions
- Add water, sugar, salt, and butter to a pot over medium heat, bring it to a boil, and turn the heat off.
- Add flour and corn starch and keep stirring until all combined and it has formed a none sticky dough.
- Place the dough in a bowl and let it cool down for 20 minutes.
- Add one egg at a time using an electric hand mixer and keep mixing until all are combined.
- Place the dough in a piping bag with a star tip.
- Add oil to a large pan without turning the heat on. Start pipping about 2-inch long tulumba and cut them with scissors.
- Once you have piped as many as they can fit in the pan, turn the heat on medium heat and let them fry slowly, turn them when you think they are golden.
- Keep frying them until they are golden brown, and you can fry them twice for the extra crunchiness.
- Take them out of the oil, and then add them to a bowl full of room temperature simple syrup.
- Place them on a serving plate and sprinkle crushed pistachios on top.
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