These are my first time actually making homemade Christmas goodies or snacks and it turned out pretty amazing. I believe everyone celebrates Christmas differently. It’s my first Christmas with my husband and I thought of preparing these delicious snacks of crispy sweet curls we usually make at home with family, to get into the Christmas spirit.
Kidyo (Kul Kuls) in Konkani is a snack prepared as one of Christmas goodies (called Kuswar) in South-India, especially in my hometown Mangalore, during Christmas. Initially, you prepare a dough with flour, butter, salt and coconut milk, shape them into curls, deep-fry and then coat them with sugar-glaze. It is crunchy, hollow on the inside. Tastes delicious with or without the glaze. We have grown up helping my mom preparing them since childhood. Holiday treats are creative and takes a lot of effort, but it’s worth it.
I made an attempt to set a schedule to prepare it during the weekend, so my husband could help me with it as it gets done faster. More the people, the merrier it is. I made a small batch of sweet curls for just the two of us. They can be made using a fork or a medium sized comb with teeth. A fork gives a wider impression/mould and makes a smaller sized curls slightly different than a comb. I used a comb, since I was more comfortable with it and it looks more prettier with thinner striations.
Merry Christmas to you! 🎄Have a wonderful holiday.
Preparation time: 1- 1.5 hrs
Cooking time – 30 minutes
Quantity made for 2
Ingredients
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Fork / Comb with teeth (depending on the number of individuals)
All-purpose flour / Plain flour/ Maida – 500 g
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Butter – 2 tbsp, (softened at room temperature)
Coconut milk – 1 1/4 cup (or as required to make a smooth dough)
For Sugar Glaze:
White Confectioner / powdered Sugar- 1/2 cup
Water – 1/4 cup
Directions
Making the dough:
1. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, butter. Mix. Add in small quantities of coconut milk working it into the flour using your hands. Punch and knead the dough, until a soft elastic dough is formed. It will tend to be sticky at the beginning but as you work through it, the dough becomes less sticky.
Cover your dough with a damp cloth or a lid so it doesn’t get dry.
Preparing the Kidyo: This can be done by using a fork or a medium sized comb. I used the traditional way by using a comb.
2. Prepare a working surface. Take a small portion of the dough.
Roll it back and forth on working surface (or by placing in between the palm of your hand and roll it back and forth) applying gentle pressure to taper the dough on the outer edges. Repeat for the other end of the strand or the areas which are fatter than the rest.
Using a small knife start cutting the strand into small bits of 1 cm thickness. making this gets easier and faster than removing bits of dough directly from the large portion of dough, preventing from making unequal size of curls.
3. Holding a comb in hand, place the dough over the teeth of the comb (If your using a fork, place the dough on back of your fork). Press it and flatten it gently (step 2, picture) . With you thumb, roll it away from you (step 3,4,5 picture). While ending the curl (step5, picture) seal them so they don’t open while frying.
Repeat the same for the rest and place it on a large plate without sticking them to each other.
When this strand of dough is almost done. Continue from point 2. Finish making the kidyo/curls, until atleast half of your dough left, before starting to fry them.
Deep Frying:
4. Heat a container with oil on medium-high. When the oil is hot enough (oil will start bubbling if it is hot enough) carefully drop a portion of kidyo/kulkuls, make sure not to over-crowd.
Stir them gently so they get separated. Let it fry, until golden brown, by stirring a couple of times in between (this might take approximately 5 minutes).
Strain them into paper towel. Pour the next batch until all are done.
Once they have all completely cooled down, transfer them into a sealed container or large zip-lock bags if you are gazing them the next day.
Sugar Glazing: They need not be glazed, based on personal choice. You can leave out the sweet glaze for a less sweet treat.
* Place sugar and water together in a cooking pot.
*Cook the sugar and water over high heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is completely dissolved. bring this mixture to a boil.
* To check if it has turned into a glaze, drizzle few drops into a stainless steal spoon dipped into bowl of water. If it hardens. It’s done.
*Immediately, glaze the curls or kidyo in parts and mix as you pour the syrup to coat all the curls.
* Let the kidyo/curls/kulkuls cool. The coated sugar glaze hardens by time.
*Store them in airtight container.
Note:
*When glazing the kidyo, make sure the syrup is used immediately after it’s removed from the heat. Otherwise, it hardens quickly if left to cool at room temperature and will have to repeat the sugar glazing process. You can glaze half batch and leave the other half unglazed if you prefer non-sweet curls.
*Make sure to frequently agitate the curls when deep-frying to fry them evenly, until brown.
Stay healthy!
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