Kimbula buns

Ask a Sri Lankan what Fur Elise reminds them of and they’ll say it reminds them of short eats or bakery products. This is because our choon paan plays Fur Elise as they make their way from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.

The choon paan brings you various goodies; Freshly baked bread, fish buns with very little fish, vegetable roti, and tea buns. But they also bring kumbula buns, which are long bread rolls that are coated in sugar.

Sadly, my mother doesn’t like to buy food from the choon paan, especially given the COVID-19 situation in the country. We also can’t walk to a bakery and buy kimbula buns because of the travel restrictions imposed in the island.

So what do you do when you suddenly crave kimbula buns? Well, you make some!

Again, I must apologize that I don’t have a recipe for the bread dough, but I’d say around 300g of flour with a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of oil, a tablespoon of milk (optional), 2 teaspoons of yeast, and a teaspoon or two of kithul treacle (you can use sugar as well).

Make sure you don’t kill the yeast by making it come into direct contact with the salt.

Add water bit by bit until you get a dough that doesn’t stick to the bowl or your fingers. Knead it for around 10 minutes and let it rise for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, make some sugar syrup. Around 1/2 cup water with 1/2 sugar, boiled until the sugar is melted, will do. Let it cool.

Flatten the dough into a large rectangle. It should be around 1/2 inch high. Now cut long triangles out of the dough. Apply some sugar syrup on the triangle and start rolling, starting from the bottom of the triangle to the top.

It’s been so long since I had a kimbula bun that I completely forgot they don’t look like croissants, which is why mine look a bit strange. I would recommend this additional step for a better shape: After you roll the triangles, roll the croissant shape gently so its a bit longer and flatter.

Now brush some sugar syrup all around the bun and roll it in some sugar. Big grains are better for this.

Place your kimbula buns on a baking tray. I baked them on a silicone mat, and I recommend this because some of the sugar can melt and I see it sticking to baking paper.

Let the kimbula buns rise a bit, for maybe 20 minute and then bake until golden brown in a 200C oven.

I covered them with a damp towel for a minute or two. Let them cool for a few minutes and enjoy with a cup of tea!