Gujiya
On March 16, 2014 by Meghalee Das
Gujiya is a fried sweet dumpling, with a flaky crust and stuffed with crumbled milk solids, grated coconut, nuts and raisins. Today is Holi, the Indian festival of colors, and Gujiya is one of the most popular sweets eaten on this day, mainly in the northern part of the country. I am not too fond of playing with colors but I always used to look forward to all the different types of Gujiya sold in Delhi during Holi. Some would be filled with only coconut, some with khoya/mawa/milk solids, while others had a combination of both. There were dry ones and those glazed with sugar or sprinkled with slivers of pistachios. The basic recipe for Gujiya remains the same, and you can make certain modifications in the filling and garnishing according to your preferences. This recipe makes 14 gujiya and can be stored in an air tight container for a couple of weeks.
Ingredients:
Crust:
Plain flour: 1 cup
Semolina/suji: 1 tbsp
Clarified butter/ghee: 4 tbsp
Water: 6 tbsp
Filling:
Crumbled Khoya/Mawa/Milk solids: 2 cups
Grated coconut: 1/4 cup
Sliced almonds: 2 tbsp
Raisins: 1 tbsp
Sugar: 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder: 1/4 tsp
Garnish:
Sugar: 1 cup
Water: 1/2 cup
Saffron strands (optional): 1 pinch
Oil for frying
Method:
1) Sieve the flour, add the semolina and the ghee. Mix it till the texture is crumbly.
Now add water gradually and make a dough. Knead it for a few minutes till it is pliable but not too stiff. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside.
2) In a heavy bottomed pan, on low to medium heat, saute the khoya, coconut and sugar till it gets slightly brown and releases the oil.
3) At this stage, take it off the heat and mix the nuts, raisins and cardamom powder. Let it cool.
4) Divide the dough into small balls and roll them out to around 3–4 inches in diameter. You can also roll out a big ball and use a cookie cutter or any lid to cut out the circles.
Place them on a flat surface and cover with a damp cloth.
5) Meanwhile, heat the sugar, water and saffron on medium heat to create a syrup.
6) Stir occasionally till it reaches one-string consistency, that is, touch a bit of the syrup, bring your thumb and index finger together and release, you should be able to see one syrup strand.
It will be hot, so be careful. Take it off the heat immediately; if it becomes a two string consistency then it will be too hard and we don’t need it for this recipe.
7) While the syrup cooks and cools, place 1-2 tbsp of the filling into the rolled out dough balls.
8) Wet the edges with a little water and then join them by pinching the edges.
Pleat the dumplings inwards, repeat and cover all of them with a cloth.
9) Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the gujiya on medium high heat for 2–3 minutes or till they become light brown in color.
10) Immediately dip them in the sugar syrup, which must be cool by now.
Coat well for 3-4 minutes and place them on a wire rack to dry.
11) After half an hour, the sugar syrup will solidify and the gujiya will become cool. Serve them or store in a container.
Happy Holi!
- Plain flour: 1 cup
- Semolina/suji: 1 tbsp
- Clarified butter/ghee: 4 tbsp
- Water: 6 tbsp
- Crumbled Khoya/Mawa/Milk solids: 2 cups
- Grated coconut: ¼ cup
- Sliced almonds: 2 tbsp
- Raisins: 1 tbsp
- Sugar: ¼ cup
- Cardamom powder: ¼ tsp
- Sugar: 1 cup
- Water: ½ cup
- Saffron strands (optional): 1 pinch
- Vegetable oil
- Sieve the flour, add the semolina and the ghee. Mix it till the texture is crumbly. Now add water gradually and make a dough. Knead it for a few minutes till it is pliable yet not too soft. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside.
- In a heavy bottomed pan on low to medium heat, saute the khoya, coconut and sugar till it starts getting slightly brown and releases the oil.
- Take it off the heat and mix the nuts, raisins and cardamom powder. Let it cool.
- Divide the dough into small balls and roll them out to around 3--4 inches in diameter. Place them on a flat surface and cover with a damp cloth.
- Meanwhile, heat the sugar, water and saffron on medium heat to create a syrup. Stir occasionally till it reaches one-string consistency.
- While the syrup cooks and cools, place 1-2 tbsp of the filling into the rolled out dough balls.
- Wet the edges with a little water and then join them by pinching the edges. Pleat the dumplings inwards, repeat and cover all of them with a cloth.
- Heat oil in a pan and fry the dumplings on medium high heat for 2--3 minutes or till they become light brown in color.
- Immediately dip them in the sugar syrup, which must be cool by now. Coat well for 3-4 minutes and place them on a wire rack to dry.
- After half an hour, the sugar syrup will solidify and the gujiya will become cool. Serve them or store in a container.
- (The prep time includes the cooling time too)
