Gujiya

Any Indian festival is incomplete without some aromatic and drool-worthy sweets. We love spending hours and hours in kitchen preparing those irresistible delicacies. Gujiya is one of the popular sweet dishes which is made during the time of Holi and Diwali.

It is a deep fried pastry with a sweet and nutty filling which looks like a large pan fried dumpling. Compared to other Indian desserts, Gujiya is not overly sweet. I love it’s crispy and flaky exterior along with its nutty and sweet filling. Gujiya is known by different names in different parts of the country – Ghughra (Gujarat), Karanji (Maharashtra), Kajikalayu (Andra), Karachika (Tamil Nadu), Nevries (Goa) etc.

Here’s what you need:

For outer crust/dough –

1. All purpose flour / maida – 1 cup
2. Semolina / Sooji – 1 Tbsp
3. Oil or Ghee – 2 Tbsp
4. Salt – a pinch
5. Water as required to knead the dough

For stuffing/filling –

1. Milk powder – 1 cup
2. Heavy whipping cream – ½ cup
3. Coconut powder – ¼ cup
4. Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
5. Sugar – 2 Tbsp
6. Almonds (sliced)- ¼ cup

For garnishing –

1. Water – ¼ cup
2. Sugar – ½ cup
3. Almonds (sliced) – 1 Tbsp
4. Pistachios (sliced) – 1 Tbsp

Other ingredients –

1. Oil – to fry

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl add all purpose flour, semolina, salt and oil. Then add water slowly and knead it till it becomes a pliable yet firm dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and set it aside for 30 minutes.
2. In the meantime, heat a nonstick pan and add milk powder & heavy cream.
3. Cook the mixture on medium heat until it starts leaving the sides of the pan and becomes a soft runny dough. Keep stirring the mixture to make sure it doesn’t burn and stick to the bottom of the pan
4. Remove the mixture from heat and let it cool for 2 minutes.
5. Add coconut powder, sugar, cardamom powder, sliced almonds to the above mixture and mix it well and keep it aside.
6. Take out the resting dough after 30 minutes and knead it once again and divide and roll it into small and smooth lemon sized balls
7. Now roll each ball with a rolling pin into small circular sheets (or thin puri) approx 3-4 inch diameter
8. Take the circular sheets and put a small portion of sweet filling in it.
9. Wet your finger and run it along the edges of the circular sheets with water and fold over to the opposite end to form a semicircle shaped gujiya.
10. Press the ends firmly using your fingers to make sure that the filling doesn’t come out while deep frying. You can also use a fork to seal the edges or can twist the edges around the gujiya.
11. To deep fry, heat oil (as required) in a frying pan on medium low heat. Place the gujias carefully and fry few at a time until it becomes light golden brown color (flip or move in between for even browning).
12. Remove the fried gujias from the pan and leave to drain on absorbent paper
13. Make sugar syrup for garnish by boiling water and sugar on medium heat until the syrup is one thread consistency
14. Dip the gujiyas into the sugar syrup, lift it and let it dry on a plate or wire rack.
15. Garnish it with sliced almonds and pistachios while they are still moist.
16. You can eat them hot or at room temperature and they can also be stored in airtight containers for couple of weeks.

Note:

• You can use gujiya mold to prepare gujiya instead of folding them by hand
• Instead of milk powder and cream you can use ¼ cup of khoya
• Do not over stuff the gujiya otherwise it will break while frying
• Instead of oil you can also use ghee/clarified butter for frying the gujiyas
• You can also bake gujias in oven (healthier version) but they won’t taste as good as the fried ones 😛

Happy cooking !! ♥♥