Gulha ( Dhivehi: ގުޅަ

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: ''guḷa'' IPA: ) is a typical and popular Maldivian

snack food A snack is a small portion of Human food, food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including Food packaging, packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at ho ...

. ''Gulha'' are small ball-shaped dumplings that are stuffed with a mixture of

tuna A tuna (: tunas or tuna) is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bul ...

, finely chopped

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

, grated

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

, and chili. Depending on the cook,

turmeric Turmeric (), or ''Curcuma longa'' (), is a flowering plant in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. It is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that requires temperatures between and high ...

, lime juice ginger and chopped curry leaves are added to the mixture. Once ready, the ''gulha'' are deep-fried.Xavier Romero-Frias, ''Eating on the Islands'', '' Himal Southasian'', Vol. 26 no. 2, pages 69-91 ''Gulha'' can be made with

wheat flour Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of common wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or ...

rice flour Rice flour (also rice powder) is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye. Rice flour is a common substitute for wheat flour. It is also used as a thickening ...

dough. The rice-flour ''gulha'' are usually smaller, harder and more crunchy. The size of ''gulha'' may vary from the large ones that are slightly larger than the size of a ping-pong ball to the smallest which are about the size of

marbles A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. These toys can be used for a variety of games called marbles, as well being placed in marble runs or races, or created as a form of art. They are ofte ...

. This snack was traditionally eaten with sweetened hot

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

and sometimes also together with other short eats. The fish used traditionally for stuffing ''gulha'' was commonly Valhoamas smoked tuna but nowadays many Maldivians use

canned tuna A tuna (: tunas or tuna) is a saltwater fish that belongs to the Tribe (biology), tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, rangin ...

. Alternatively, gulha may be oven-baked instead of deep-fried.

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Eating on the Islands - As times have changed, so has the Maldives' unique cuisine and culture
Maldivian cuisine Tuna dishes Snack foods Dumplings Deep fried foods Foods containing coconut {{maldives-stub

See also

References

External links