Gulha recipe: Maldivian tuna dumplings

Gulha (say “GOOL-ha”) belong to hedhikaa, the family of short eats Maldivians eat with tea, mostly in the late afternoon. The idea is simple. The filling is the same mix of tuna, coconut, onion and chilli that runs through Maldivian home cooking; you will taste close cousins of it in mas huni at breakfast. The dough is plain, made from wheat flour, rice flour or a mix of the two.

Wheat or rice dough

• Wheat-flour gulha are softer, slightly bigger (around the size of a walnut or a ping-pong ball) and have a tender, lightly chewy shell.
• Rice-flour gulha tend to be smaller, firmer and crunchier.

The recipe below uses mostly wheat flour with a little rice flour, which gives a shell that stays crisp outside and soft inside.

Smoked or tinned tuna

Smoked, dried tuna gives the deepest flavour. Tinned tuna is easier to find abroad and works well as long as you drain it thoroughly. Most of the tuna eaten in the Maldives is skipjack caught one fish at a time; our guide to pole-and-line tuna fishing explains how.

This makes about 25 to 30 gulha.

For the filling

• 200 g tuna: smoked tuna, finely flaked or grated, or two small tins of tuna in brine, very well drained
• 1 cup freshly grated coconut (frozen grated coconut, thawed, is fine; unsweetened desiccated coconut soaked in a little warm water works at a pinch)
• 1 medium onion, very finely chopped
• 2–3 fresh green chillies, very finely chopped (or to taste)
• A small piece of ginger, finely grated
• 1 sprig curry leaves (about 10 leaves), finely shredded
• Juice of ½ lime
• Salt to taste

For the dough

• 2 cups plain wheat flour
• ¼ cup rice flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric (optional, for a golden colour)
• 2 tablespoons coconut or vegetable oil
• About ¾ cup warm water, added a little at a time

For frying

• Neutral oil, such as coconut or vegetable oil, enough to fill a deep pan to about 6 cm

1. Make the filling. Put the tuna, coconut, onion, chilli, ginger and curry leaves in a bowl. Rub everything together with your fingertips for a minute or two, squeezing as you go. This draws the flavours together, as Maldivians do with mas huni.

2. Season it. Add the lime juice and salt, mix again and taste. It should be bright, salty and gently hot. The filling needs to be fairly dry and hold together when pressed; if it is wet, squeeze out the excess liquid.

3. Mix the dough. In a second bowl, combine both flours, the salt and the turmeric. Add the oil and rub it into the flour until it looks like coarse sand.

4. Bring it together. Add the warm water gradually, mixing with your hand, until you have a soft, smooth dough that does not stick to your fingers. It should feel like soft modelling clay. Knead it for 2–3 minutes, cover it and leave it to rest for 15–20 minutes.

5. Divide the dough. Pinch off pieces about the size of a large marble and roll each into a ball. Keep the balls covered with a damp cloth so they do not dry out.

6. Fill the gulha. Take one ball and press it flat in your palm into a small round, about 6 cm across, slightly thinner at the edges. Put a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre.

7. Seal and shape. Bring the edges up around the filling and pinch them together at the top, pressing out any air. Roll the gulha gently between your palms to make a smooth ball with no cracks. Place it on a lightly floured tray and repeat with the rest.

8. Heat the oil. Warm the oil over a medium heat to about 170°C. If you have no thermometer, drop in a small piece of dough: it should sink, then rise slowly with steady small bubbles. If it browns at once, the oil is too hot.

9. Fry in batches. Lower 6–8 gulha into the oil at a time so the pan is not crowded. Fry for 5–7 minutes, turning them now and then, until they are deep golden all over.

10. Drain and rest. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Leave them for a few minutes before eating; the filling stays very hot inside.

• Cracks mean leaks. If the dough splits as you shape it, work a few drops of water into it. A cracked gulha can burst in the oil.
• Keep the filling dry. Wet filling makes soggy gulha and spits in the pan. Drain tinned tuna well and press it in a sieve.
• Medium heat, not high. Oil that is too hot browns the outside before the dough cooks through, leaving a raw, doughy layer under the shell.

• All rice flour: use rice flour only and knead with hot water for a firmer, crunchier, more traditional-style ball.
• Plant-based: for a vegetarian version, replace the tuna with mashed potato or finely chopped cooked vegetables, and keep the coconut, onion, chilli and curry leaves. It is not traditional, but it works; see vegetarian and vegan food in the Maldives.

• Serve warm or at room temperature with hot, sweet tea, the way Maldivians eat them.
• Make a spread. Gulha sit well beside other short eats such as kulhi boakiba, a spicy baked tuna cake. For a sweet contrast, try bondibaiy, the Maldivian rice pudding.
• Store cooled gulha in a covered container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat them in a low oven for 10 minutes so the shells crisp up again; the microwave makes them soft.
• Freeze uncooked, shaped gulha on a tray, then bag them. Fry from frozen over a slightly lower heat, adding a couple of minutes.

Gulha are everyday food, a fixture of afternoon tea at home and in tea shops. In Ramadan they come into their own: after the fast is broken at sunset with dates and water, families share plates of short eats, and gulha are among the most common. If you travel then, see Ramadan in the Maldives.

The easiest way to taste gulha first is at a tea shop on a local island in the late afternoon, when the trays are fresh. Pay in rufiyaa for small bills.

On Dhiffushi, short eats turn up in the island’s cafés and tea shops alongside tea and fresh juice. Our guide to food in Dhiffushi covers what to look for, and the food and drink section lists places to eat. For the wider picture, see Maldivian food and dishes to try.