Gujiya - Holi Special by Ruchi Dua

Crispy and flaky traditional Gujiya recipe is rich and delicious in taste. Packed with goodness of desiccated coconut and dry nuts, its a perfect sweet for any Indian festival 😊

Begin the recipe by preparing the outer crust. Knead a soft pliable dough, cover and let it rest for 30 minutes. While the dough is resting, prepare the filling. Store bought mawa was used in this recipe but you can always prepare mawa at home. 

Dry roast mawa and coconut together. When it turns light brown in color, take it off the flame and set it aside. In a separate pan, dry roast the nuts too. Dry toasting releases their essential oils and brings out their fullest flavor. Later, these toasted nuts are grounded to their powdered form and added to the mawa mix.

Mawa can be substituted with roasted sooji (semolina) and toasted nuts. Use the same measurements and continue with the recipe. When the dough and filling is ready, let’s proceed to shape and stuff our gujiyas.

After stuffing the gujiya, make sure they are sealed tightly. Apply little water to seal and secure the edges. A slight hole in gujiya will make them disperse in oil making a huge mess. Please follow a step by step guide below. 

After the gujiyas are cooked, soak them in chasni/sugar syrup . Soaking will not make them too sweet because the outer crust (the dough) has no sugar added to it. But again it’s optional. You can enjoy them without any sugar coat. They tastes equally good. 

FOR A HEALTHIER VERSION – Try baking these gujiyas @ 400 Degrees F for 20-25 minutes until light brown in color.e

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE DOUGH

• 1 cup Maida
• 1 tablespoon Sooji (Semolina)
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
• 1 tablespoon Unsalted butter or Ghee
• A pinch of Salt
• 1- 2 tablespoon Milk

GUJIYA MIXTURE INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup Dessicated Coconut
• 1 cup Crumbled Khoya/Mawa
• 1/4 cup Superfine Sugar
• 2 tablespoon Milk
• 10-12 pieces of  Raisins
• 12-15 pieces of  Almonds
• 12-15 pieces of  Pistachios
• 2 tablespoon of  Cashew pieces
• 2 teaspoon Green Cardamom powder
• 1 teaspoon Saffron strands

SUGAR SYRUP - OPTIONAL

• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 4 tablespoon Water
• 1/4 -1/2 teaspoon Green Cardamom powder
• 1 teaspoon Rose water
• Few pieces of  Saffron strands

METHOD

GUJIYA DOUGH

• Assemble all the ingredients needed for gujiya dough.
• In a big bowl combine all the ingredients
• And knead a soft pliable dough.
• Cover the dough and let it sit for 30 minutes.

GUJIYA MIXTURE

• Meanwhile let's begin with our gujiya filling. Assemble all the ingredients.
• In a heavy bottom pan add mawa, dry coconut and toast them on low heat. Toast for 15 minutes on a low flame and as shown in the third picture when the mixture turns light brown in color, add saffron strand. Mix and take it off the flame.
• In a separate kadhai add nuts (except raisins)and toast them on a medium flame. Once they start omitting their aroma, take it off the flame and allow it to cool completely. Ground them in a coffee grinder until it turns into a fine powder. Add this nutty mixture to the mawa mixture along with raisins.
• Stir it well. Add sugar, milk and mix until everything is well- blended.
• This mixture should be moist. To check - take some mixture in your hands, squeeze and if it forms a soft ball, its perfect and if its still crumbly add few more drops of milk to form a soft ball.

GUJIYA WITHOUT MOULD

• Making Gujiyas without the mould. Take a small golf size ball of the dough.
• Roll it in a thin circle.
• In the half fold, place some gujiya mixture.
• Fold gujiya into half.
• Apply water along the edges and seal it tight.
• Using a fork SECURE the edges by making imprints of the fork.
• Gujiya is ready for frying.

GUJIYA WITH MOULD

• If making gujiya with a mould, follow the directions below.
• Roll out a disc shaped circle.
• Like a blanket place this rolled out dough over the mould.
• Fill the gujiya mixture at the base. Apply water along the edges.
• Flip over the top and firmly press the mould- seal the edges.
• Using a knife trim off the excess dough and mix it with rest of the dough.
• All the gujiyas should be sealed properly or they will open up during frying, leaving a mess. The one on the far left corner in the picture is not fit for frying.
• Gujiyas are ready for an oil bath.

FRYING GUJIYA

• Heat oil in a pan. When ready for frying, lower the flame and fry gujiyas until golden brown in color.
• Remove from oil and drain it on the paper towel.
• Gujiyas are ready.

SUGAR SYRUP

• To prepare the sugar syrup. Combine all the ingredients in a pan and on a medium flame bring it too a boil. Scum will start forming on top of the liquid.
• Using a spoon, collect and discard. I had to remove it twice during the whole boiling process. Keep boiling till the liquid is reduced and it start to thickens.
• Lower the heat, dip spoon in the syrup and remove. Do not touch for the first few seconds, it will be very hot. Touch the syrup with your finger and if it coats your finger it means that it is about to reach it's first string consistency.
• Drain the hot syrup.
• Clean hot sugar syrup /chashni will look like this. Dip each Gujiya in this syrup for 2-3 minutes and set it on a clean plate. If baking the gujiya - follow the same procedure.
• Sugar glazed Gujiyas are all set and ready to be eaten!!

You can see the entire recipe on this link - http://www.ruchiskitchen.com/recipe/gujiya-recipe/ where Ruchi has explained the entire the process pictorally and made it really simple to follow.

Recipe Developed & Created By Ruchi Dua

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