Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Gujiya



Today I made Gujiya (called Karagadabu in Kannada, Ghughara in Gujarati & Karanji in Marathi) for Holi. These are a deep fried pastry with a sweet filling consisting of coconut, sugar and nuts. Crispy on the outside and soft, sweet filling on the inside. YUM!!
Gujiyas need to be fried on very low flame & each batch will take about 12-15 minutes. I tried to bake few, they turned out good but then they really don't match the fried ones....so my conclusion is - enjoy fried ones...as Holi comes once a year :)

Ingredients
For the Dough

2 cups maida
4 table spoon melted ghee
a pinch of salt
¼ cup water or milk

For the Filling
3/4 cup Fine Semolina
1/2 cup Khoya, nicely roasted
1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
5 tbsp Sugar (to taste)
3 tsp Ghee
1/4 cup raisins
2 tbsp Chirounji
7-8 Cashew Nuts, chopped
7-8 Almonds, thin slices
4-6 Dates deseeded & finely chopped
1/4 cup dried coconut, light roasted
2 tsp Poppy Seeds, roasted

Method
For the Dough
First, prepare the dough by rubbing ghee in the flour for about a minute.
Add no more than ¼ cup of water to make a stiff dough.
Knead it for about 3 minutes, after which you will see that it has become softer.
Cover it with a wet cloth.

For the Filling
Roast khoya on low heat till it turns light pinkish. Keep aside.
In same pan, add chirounji, cashew-nuts, Almonds & roast over medium heat for about 5 to 8 minutes.
Add dates & raisins 2 minutes before removing from the heat.
Dry roast coconut for just about 2 minutes. Keep aside.
Dry roast Semolina over medium-low heat until it gets nice pink color.
Once semolina is done, transfer to a plate.
Mix everything & when slightly cold add sugar & cardamom powder.
Rub gently & mix all nicely.

How to Proceed
Now knead the dough again for 2-3 minutes.
Pull a golf-ball size dough (may be even smaller than that) & roll into a thin, 5 inch puri.
You can use a round cookie cutter to get perfect rounds.
Neatly put 1 table spoon of filling on the one half of the puri.
Dip finger in a water bowl & run the finger along the edge of the puri.
Fold the puri in half and seal the edge properly.
You can twist/fold the edges further to create a nice design or use a mold to seal the ends.
Deep fry 6-8 gujiyas in oil or ghee for about 12-15 minutes.

Tips
* Instead of sugar you can increase quantity of dates to give sweetness.
* Do not roast anything over high or medium high heat & always keep watching so you don't burn anything.
* If you roast semolina over high heat, it will turn brown soon, but it won't be roasted properly. Under-roasted semolina will give raw taste of semolina.

TO BAKE -
Preheat oven for 180 C.
Prepare all the gujiyas, Apply some ghee all over the karanji.
Without ghee Gujiyas will become very dry & might get burned while baking.
Place over baking pan lined with aluminum foil.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, Turning in between.
Do not make them too much brown. It will burn the filling.

No comments:

Post a Comment