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Kurma
Crunchy fried sticks of ginger-spiced dough coated in a crisp white sugar glaze, a Trinidad Divali sweet
Kurma is a crunchy Indo-Trinidadian sweet made for Divali, weddings and pujas, and sold in bags at roadside parlours in Central Trinidad. A rich dough flavoured with ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg is cut into thin sticks, fried until hard and golden, then tossed in a hot ginger sugar syrup until it dries into a frosty white coating. It keeps for weeks in a tin. Chef's tip: keep stirring the kurma in the syrup off the heat until the sugar suddenly turns opaque and sandy. That moment is the whole trick; stop too early and the coating stays sticky, and the 'frost' is what makes kurma kurma.
- Total time
- 60 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 10
Ingredients
For the dough
For the syrup
Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Mix 10 ½ oz plain flour, 1 tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg, ½ tsp baking powder and 1 pinch salt. Rub in 2 ⅛ oz butter until it looks like breadcrumbs.
Step 2: Add ¾ cup evaporated milk gradually and knead lightly to a firm, smooth dough; it should be stiffer than bread dough. Cover and rest for 15 minutes.
15 minStep 3: Roll the dough out on a floured surface about 6 mm thick. Cut into strips 1 cm wide, then across into sticks about 6 cm long.
Step 4: Heat 1 litre vegetable oil in a deep pan to 325°F, a gentle heat. Fry the sticks in batches for 6–8 minutes, stirring, until golden brown and hard and crunchy all the way through; break one to check. Too hot and they brown outside but stay soft inside. Drain on kitchen paper and cool.
25 minStep 5: Put 8 oz sugar, ½ cup water, 1 tbsp fresh ginger and 1 cinnamon stick in a wide pan or wok and boil over a medium heat for 6–8 minutes, until the syrup reaches the thread stage (about 225°F): a drop pressed between finger and thumb (careful) forms a short thread. Take out the cinnamon.
8 minStep 6: Take the pan off the heat, tip in all the fried kurma and stir and toss continuously with a wooden spoon. After 2–4 minutes the syrup will suddenly turn cloudy and then dry into a white, sandy coating on each stick. Keep tossing until every piece is coated and dry.
4 minStep 7: Spread on a tray to cool completely, then store in an airtight tin for up to 3 weeks.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 330 kcal
- Protein
- 5 g
- Carbs
- 50 g
- Fat
- 13 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does kurma take?
- About 60 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 10 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of ground ginger?
- 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger per ¼ tsp ground.
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