Gulha ( Dhivehi: ގުޅަ IAST: ''guḷa'' IPA: ) is a typical and popular Maldivian short eat. ''Gulha'' are small ball-shaped dumplings that are stuffed with a mixture of

tuna A 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 bullet tuna (max len ...

, finely chopped

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), 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 onio ...

, grated coconut, and chili. Depending on the cook,

turmeric Turmeric () is a flowering plant, ''Curcuma longa'' (), of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, the rhizomes of which are used in cooking. The plant is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast ...

lime juice A lime (from French ''lime'', from Arabic ''līma'', from Persian ''līmū'', "lemon") is a citrus fruit, which is typically round, green in color, in diameter, and contains acidic juice vesicles. There are several species of citrus trees ...

and chopped

curry leaves A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...

are added to the mixture. Once ready, the ''gulha'' are

deep-fried Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Norma ...

.Xavier Romero-Frias, ''Eating on the Islands'', ''

Himal Southasian ''Himal Southasian'' (stylised as HIMĀL Southasian) is a news magazine, which covers politics and culture in South Asia. Having closed its publication from Kathmandu in November 2016, the magazine resumed publication in April 2018 from Colombo, S ...

'', Vol. 26 no. 2, pages 69-91 ''Gulha'' can be made with

wheat flour Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of 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 ''bread ...

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 Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

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. They vary in size, and most commonly are about in diameter. These toys can be used for a variety of games called ''marbles'', as well being placed in mar ...

. 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 southwestern China and north ...

and sometimes also together with other short eats. The fish used traditionally for stuffing ''gulha'' was commonly

Maldive fish Maldives fish ( dv, ވަޅޯމަސް, translit=valhoamas) is cured tuna fish traditionally produced in Maldives. It is a staple of the Maldivian cuisine, Sri Lankan cuisine, as well as the cuisine of the Southern Indian states and territories of L ...

but nowadays many Maldivians use

canned tuna A 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 bullet tuna (max len ...

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

References

External links

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

See also

References

External links