They say that Zoolbia Bamieh dates back to the time of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar; Jafar Shahri writes in his book Old Tehran: Among the other developments of the month of Ramadan was the arrival of zoolbia,bamieh, gosh e fil, and pashmak, which were only available in the market during this month.
The reason for the existence of such delicious food is that in the past, in some cities of our country, sweet ingredients such as raisins and dates were not available, as they were not cultivated due to unfavorable weather conditions.
Bringing these ingredients to other cities has also brought many problems, which is why Zoolbia Bamieh was invented little by little and spread in cities where there were no sweets.
I am here today to teach you how to make quick and easy Zulbia Bamieh at home, so please stay with me until the end of the article.
My experience table:
My level of interest is from 1 to 10
10
The ease of cooking
Hard
Served for
Dessert
Suggest for
Dessert during Ramadan
What is served with?
Persian tea, gol gav zaban
What is Zoolbia Bamieh?
Zoolbia Bamieh are traditional and popular sweets among Iranians, which are commonly baked during the holy month of Ramadan. In the past, these delicious, juicy, and colorful sweets were made only in one way.
But nowadays, due to their popularity, they are made in many different types. For example, in the Arabic bamieh recipe, this sweet is prepared in a larger form, and Zolbia is prepared in a colored form with various colors.
While Zoolbia and Bamieh are almost always presented as a culinary pair, they are distinct sweets crafted to deliver contrasting textures. Bamieh is famously made with a rich pastry dough (similar to Choux pastry), resulting in a denser, soft, and slightly doughnut-like interior. It is traditionally piped using a star tip.
In direct contrast, Zoolbia relies on a thinner, liquid batter that, when deep-fried, puffs up into a beautiful lacy structure, yielding an extremely crispy and crunchy texture, often compared to funnel cakes. The enjoyment of this dessert stems from the perfect balance achieved when these two unique textures—the crunchy thinness of Zoolbia and the satisfying density of Bamieh—are consumed together.
1. To make a delicious honey syrup, first pour the water into a suitable pot, place it on the flame, and reduce the heat. Add the sugar gradually to the water and stir with a spoon until the sugar dissolves completely in the water. Then add two cardamom seeds.
2. Of course, you should gently stir the syrup so that the syrup does not hit the walls of the pot. Then add the saffron brew, immediately add two tablespoons of glucose, and wait for the syrup to reach consistency.
3. After the syrup is slightly thickened, add rose water and turn off the heat, and set aside to cool the syrup. (The syrup gets thicker after cooling, so don’t let it thicken on the heat.) Put the syrup in the fridge to cool for Zoolbia Bamieh.
Achieving the ideal syrup consistency is the most critical step to ensure your sweets remain crisp and do not turn soft later.
• Optimal Consistency and Temperature: The syrup must be cooked thoroughly until it achieves a thick density, resembling the viscosity of honey (though slightly less dense). This thickening process takes approximately 15 minutes of gentle boiling. Critically, the syrup must be completely cold before the fried Zoolbia and Bamieh are added; if the syrup is warm or thin, the pastries will inevitably become soggy.
• The Shine Factor (Glucose): While your recipe includes glucose, it’s worth emphasizing that this ingredient is favored by professional confectioners. Adding a tablespoon of Glucose powder (or liquid) ensures the final product develops a beautiful, attractive shine and, more importantly, prevents the Bamieh from becoming too soft.
• Preventing Crystallization (Shekarak): To ensure your syrup remains smooth and does not form white sugar crystals (Shekarak) upon cooling, the addition of an acid is essential. While you can use lemon juice (1/2 teaspoon or 2 tablespoons), incorporating a small amount of Citric Acid (about 1/3 teaspoon) is highly recommended for completely avoiding crystallization
1. To prepare homemade zoolbia, first we take the butter and yogurt out of the refrigerator so that they adapt to the temperature of the environment. Pour the yogurt into a bowl, add the starch to it, mix it with a hand mixer, and leave this mixture aside for 5 minutes.
2. We sift the flour and add it to the mixture of yogurt and starch after 5 minutes, and mix the ingredients with a spoon. Add softened butter to the ingredients and add baking soda, rose water, and cardamom essence.
3. Now we mix all the ingredients well with a hand mixer so that our sauce has a consistency similar to yogurt. (If the mixture is a little stiff, you can add a little rose water again)In a pan, pour the special frying oil in a floating manner.
4. Then we put the pan on a medium flame and let the oil get hot over time at a low heat. We put the pastry bag in a glass and pour the Zoolbia sauce into it, and when the oil is hot, hold the pastry bag in our hands.
5. Now we press it very quickly until the liquid comes out, and we turn our hand in a circle and press the pastry bag until the liquid is continuously poured into the oil and a circle is formed inside the oil, and then we pause and create another in the oil.
6. In the same way, we shape the zulbia in the oil and with a slotted spatula, we return the zoolbia into the oil until both sides are golden and completely fried.
7. We take out the syrup from the refrigerator. When the zoolbia become golden, we take them out of the oil and put them in a net for 1 minute to remove their excess oil, and then put them in the cold syrup.
8. Now allow the zoolbia to remain in the syrup for 2 to 5 minutes until it is completely impregnated with the syrup, and then put in the net again to remove the extra syrup. We put the prepared zoolbia in the dish.
9. Now cover the dish with cellophane and place it in the fridge to cool. If you plan to make bamieh with Zulbia, put the syrup in the fridge again to cool for bamieh.
1. To make delicious bamieh, first remove the butter and eggs from the fridge to adapt to the ambient temperature. If you want to make zoolbia bamieh, first prepare the zulbia and then make the bamieh, because bamieh has egg,s and the oil is likely to foam.
2. We pour the water into a pot, put it on a gentle heat, and add the softened butter to it. When the water is boiling, add the baking powder to the flour and sift it.
3. Then we add it to the boiling water and mix the ingredients well until it becomes a paste. At first, the ingredients may harden a little, but we continue and drag the dough with a spoon, open it, and then quickly knead the dough.
4. We do this several times so that the air in the remaining dough comes out. The dough that has become cohesive, we put aside to cool.
Pay attention that the dough should not be cold, because the time of adding eggs to it causes them to be slowly absorbed into the dough.
5. Likewise, the dough should not be hot because the egg cooks in the dough. So just let it cool down, that is, it should be a little warm. We pour frying oil into a small pot, place it on the flame, and allow it to heat up over time with low heat.
6. When the dough cools down, we add the egg to it and mix the dough well with an electric mixer. First, the dough will separate into pieces. Don’t worry, keep stirring because the dough ingredients will become uniform due to mixing.
7. If, after 10 minutes, you see that the dough is stiff, you can add half an egg to the dough and stir again. Pour the dough into the pastry bag and place it on top of the heated oil pot.
8. Then we dip the scissor blade into the oil and take it out so that it becomes greasy and the bamieh mixture does not stick to it. The pastry bag is in one hand, and the scissors are in the other hand.
We press the pastry bag and the bamieh paste comes out, and you cut the paste to whatever size you like.
9. The bamieh falls into the oil, and again we cut as much of the oil as the pot can hold. Of course, note that the large number of bamieh in the oil makes it difficult to turn them, so we pour enough of the mixture into the oil so that the bamieh does not stick to each other.
10. We turn the bamieh in the oil with a slotted spatula so that both sides are fried and get a good color. We take the syrup out of the refrigerator. Then we take out the fried bamieh and put it in the syrup.
11. Now, after 1 minute, take the bamieh out of the syrup and put it in a net to remove the excess nectar. We put the bamieh in a dish and covered it with cellophane, and put it in the refrigerator to cool down, and then eat it.
If you have noticed, the zoolbia you get from the bakery has a better and more fragile texture. Baking soda is used to make the zoolbia texture more crispy, but since baking soda is harmful, it is better to use baking powder.
In order not to lose the properties of baking powder, when you add it to the zoolbia mixture, do not mix the mixture too much, because the combination of baking powder with other ingredients causes the release of carbon dioxide gas and for this reason, if the ingredients are mixed too much, this gas is lost.
Solid oil causes zulbia to harden. So it is better to use liquid oil to fry them.
The syrup should have the consistency of honey. For this reason, all the ingredients of the syrup should be boiled together for a quarter of an hour. If the syrup is hot or not hard, the zoolbiz bamieh will be kneaded.
Be sure to pour lemon juice into the syrup so that it does not turn sugary.
Disposable pastry bags can also be used in the preparation of zoolbia bamieh, but the approximate diameter of them should be 7 mm.
After you fry the zoolbia, immediately put it in the syrup so that the syrup is well absorbed by the zoolbia.
The gas flame for frying Zoolbia should be low and gentle.
Mix the ingredients again after making 2 or 3 zulbia.
While frying bamieh, be careful not to put too many of them in the oil because there should be a space between them, so that the steam of the bamieh does not soften them.
Fry the bamieh well until they are completely dark brown.
After about seven to eight hours of cooking, do not cover them and leave them uncovered in the refrigerator so that it does not soften.
Ramadan, Arabic Ramaḍān, in Islam, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and the holy month of fasting. It begins and ends with the appearance of the crescent moon. Because the Muslim calendar year is shorter than the Gregorian calendar year, Ramadan begins 10–12 days earlier each year, allowing it to fall in every season throughout a 33-year cycle.
Zoolbia and Bamieh are among the most popular treats served at Iftar during Ramadan, but because they contain high levels of sugar and fat, it’s important to enjoy them in moderation. These sweets are not suitable for Suhoor, as the sudden sugar spike can lead to early hunger and increased thirst during the fasting day.
For a healthier option throughout the month, it’s better to rely on natural sources of sweetness such as dates or raisins. People with diabetes, obesity, or high blood lipids should be especially cautious and limit their intake significantly to avoid adverse health effects.
When purchasing these sweets, choose pieces that are evenly fried and avoid those that look burnt, overly doughy, or are displayed openly near sunlight or behind warm glass counters, where they can be exposed to heat and environmental contamination. Whether store-bought or homemade, always keep Zoolbia and Bamieh in a cool, dry place or refrigerate them to maintain both safety and freshness.
I am Chef Haghighi, a culinary professional and restaurant consultant with over a decade of experience in the food industry. Holding a TCA international culinary qualification, I have successfully launched more than 20 traditional and fast-food restaurants across the USA, Turkey, and Iran. Through Meals Cook, I share my passion for authentic Iranian and Turkish recipes. Beyond creating dishes, I specialize in commercial kitchen setups. If you are planning to start a food business, you can contact me for free, expert advice on purchasing industrial kitchen equipment and designing your restaurant for maximum efficiency.”
6 Comments
Hi,i want to khow if not sifting the flour,has an effect on the final result in this recipe ?
hi dear angelina ,yes it definitely has an effect.the dohgh will spoil and as a result,your zoolbia bamieh will not reach the desired quality.
Hi dears
Can i make this zulbia without oil and in oven?
Tnx
Hi dear Diana, Yes you can make zoolbia bamieh with oven but, it is not delicious.
Hi dears
Is consuming zoolbia bamieh harmful to health?
You should not overdo Zulbia Bamieh and in general, if you have blood sugar and blood lipid problems, yes, you should not consume this sweet due to the high sugar and fat content.
For those who do not have these problems, they should not eat too much of this sweet.
Hi,i want to khow if not sifting the flour,has an effect on the final result in this recipe ?
hi dear angelina ,yes it definitely has an effect.the dohgh will spoil and as a result,your zoolbia bamieh will not reach the desired quality.
Hi dears
Can i make this zulbia without oil and in oven?
Tnx
Hi dear Diana, Yes you can make zoolbia bamieh with oven but, it is not delicious.
Hi dears
Is consuming zoolbia bamieh harmful to health?
You should not overdo Zulbia Bamieh and in general, if you have blood sugar and blood lipid problems, yes, you should not consume this sweet due to the high sugar and fat content.
For those who do not have these problems, they should not eat too much of this sweet.