Ann's Blog

Toronto, Canada:
August 31, 2011
Move over, Tim Hortons –
make way for Trinbits

I first tasted these deep-fried bits of cardamon- and cinnamon-spiced dough drenched in sugar syrup at a poolside gathering in Trinidad last year. The get-together had been arranged by our friends Heather and Don on the sailboat Asseance, so I could meet Mario and Crystal, a young Trinidadian couple who, without knowing me, had done me a favor. (Making the proverbial long story short, they acquired a signature that I needed from a Trini artiste in order to use a line from one of his songs in The Spice Necklace.)

Crystal and Mario brought homemade Goolab Jamoon to that gathering, and none of us foreigners could keep our hands out of the box. They tasted like fresh Tim Hortons sour cream glazed donuts, but with an interesting undercurrent of spices. Of course, I asked Crystal for the recipe, and she gave it to me off the top of her head. Easy peasy.

I didn’t get around to trying it, though, until I was back in Toronto in July. And I quickly discovered it was trickier than it sounded. My first batch was burnt on the outside and undercooked inside. The second batch was somewhat better, but the glaze threatened to remove the fillings from our teeth. Was it Crystal’s recipe? Nope. I compared it with one in the bible of Trinidadian cooking, known colloquially as the “Naparima Girls’ High School Cookbook” (its real title is The Multi-Cultural Cuisine of Trinidad & Tobago & The Caribbean), and the ingredients were pretty much the same. Unfortunately, its directions were as brief as Crystal’s verbal ones.

A website called Tastes Like Home set me straight: I was frying them in oil that was too hot, and I was dousing them in sugar syrup that had boiled too long. It took a couple more batches to get them right. But Batch Five was good enough to take to a spur-of-the-moment potluck last weekend, where they were quickly christened “Trinbits” (spinning, for you non-Canadians, on Tim Hortons’ bite-sized doughnut balls “Timbits”).

Trinbits are best eaten on the day they’re made. But, frankly, you probably won’t have to worry about having leftovers. Here’s my version of Crystal’s and the Naparima Girls’ recipe:

2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamon
½ cup cold butter
7 oz condensed milk
1/4 cup evaporated milk
oil for deep frying
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups water

1. Combine 2 cups of the flour and the spices in a large bowl.

2. Cut butter into flour mixture until it has the texture of fine crumbs.

3. Add condensed and evaporated milks and stir to combine. Add remaining flour by the tablespoon until you have a smooth, soft dough. You may not need all of it.

4. Pinch off small pieces (about a heaping teaspoon of dough) and roll between your palms to form an almond shape.

5. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep pot over medium-low heat. Deep fry the Jamoon in batches until golden, about 4–5 minutes. (If they get brown before that, your oil is too hot, and the dough is not going to be properly cooked inside.) Remove and drain on paper-towels.

6. In a small, heavy pot, combine the sugar and water, and stir until sugar is dissolved. Boil over high heat until mixture spins a thread – 230˚ on a candy thermometer.

7. Place Jamoon in a bowl and pour hot syrup over them, turning continuously to coat them evenly until the syrup crystallizes.

Makes about 3½–4 dozen.

Back to top

Sign up to be notified by email when I post a new blog

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Name *

Email *

 

Comment

HTML tags are not allowed.

 

Recent Posts

Archives