Guyanese Gulgula

golden brown fried gulgula balls in a green bowl

Gulgula is a sweet fritter or drop donut made with crushed bananas fried to crispy golden brown perfection. Make them the traditional way or you can make them gluten, dairy, and sugar-free!

Course Dessert, Snacks

Cuisine Guyanese

Keyword banana fritters, Best gulgyga recipe, Easy gulgula recipe, gulagula, Gulgula, gulgula recipe, Gulgula recipe with sugar, Gulgula recipes, How to make crispy gulgula, how to make gulgula

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Rest Time 1

Total Time 1 20

Servings Gulgula Balls

Calories 352kcal

Equipment

Saucepan
2 Mixing Bowls
Cookie Scoop

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar Divided
1/4 cup Warm Water About 110 °F
1 tbsp Dry Active Yeast
3 Ripe Bananas
1/2 Cup Warm Evaporate Milk May use regular whole milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Raisins Rinsed and soaked
4-6 Cups Oil suitable for frying

Instructions

Dissolve 1 tablespoon of sugar in warm water, then add the yeast. Mix together, cover and let rest in a warm place until the yeast blooms and gets at least a 1 inch frothy rise (head)
While the yeast is blooming, add the bananas to a bowl that is large enough for the dough to double in size. Then crush the bananas with a fork until there are no big chunks remaining
Next add the bloomed yeast, sugar, evaporated milk and vanilla extract to the crushed bananas. Mix together well and set aside
In a separate bowl, sift the flour, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and salt together. Then Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together to form a soft batter. Cover and let rest in a warm place for at least an hour or until the dough doubles in size

Cooking the Gulgula

When ready to cook, add oil to a saucepan deep enough to have 3 inches of oil and bring up to temperature on medium heat. If you have a rapid read thermometer, the oil should be about 300 °F. If using a large dutch oven, you may need more than 6 cups of oil
Using a cookie scoop, or two spoons drop small balls of dough into the hot oil. Dough will sink to the bottom of the pot and then float to the top a few seconds later. Fry gulgula in two or more batches so as to not over crowd the saucepan and decrease the temperature of the oil
Fry for about 3 minutes. Turn the gulgula once or twice for even cooking and browning. When gulgula is dark brown all over, remove from the heat and let rest on a few paper towel sheets. Allow to cool before serving.

Notes

Keeping your oil better 300 °F and 325 °F will allow the dough to cook all the way through. If the oil is colder than this the gulgula may be soggy and oily.
It should take about 3 minutes total to fry each batch. If the dough becomes dark brown before 3 minutes is up, then your oil is too hot and the gulgula may not cook all the way through.
If the dough balls don't rise to the top a few seconds after dropping, use a spatula to gently free them from the bottom of the pan or they will burn on one side.

Nutrition