Gujiya - Festival special Half Moon shaped Mawa & Coconut Dumplings

                                                                                  

                                                                                 

It's that time of the year again Folks, when Holi ( Festival of Colors ) is round the corner. It's the festival which invites us to come outdoors and soak ourselves with vibrant colors. I remember during my childhood days our group of friends used to come together in the neighbourhood with water sprays, colored water filled balloons and gulals. Once we have finished applying colors amongst ourselves we used to ambush other pedestrians who used to pass our locality. Many times we threw water balloons and if we ran out of it, we used pichkaris( water sprays) to fill the pedestrian with colors. Believe me friends it was great fun. After all the playing has ended, we took a lot of time to get a nice shower and clean up as much as possible. Although some colors remain till days, it reminds us how much fun we had during Holi. Today, I am sharing with you a Holi based sweet called gujiya. It's a lavish sweet with many fillings. Hope you like it. 

                                                

                                                                         





Ingredients:

(For outer crust)-

2 cups All purpose flour

2 tbsp Ghee

2 tsp Milk

Pinch of salt

Water to knead the dough





(For filling)-

250 gm Mawa/ Khoya/

3/4 cup Desiccated coconut

1 tbsp Semolina

1 cup Sugar, powdered (or you can adjust according to your taste)

8-9 Almonds, blanced and chopped

10 Cashews, chopped

10 Raisins

8-10 Pistacho

1 tbsp Saunf / fennel seeds(roughly grounded)

1 tsp Green cardamom powder

1/2 tsp Nutmeg powder

1 tbsp Ghee

Oil for deep frying





Method:

Rub ghee into the flour and mix well till it looks like breadcrumbs texture, add a pinch of salt, milk and water to make a smooth dough. Now cover this dough with a wet cloth and keep aside for 1/2 hour.





In a kadhai / skillet take 1 tbsp ghee and add semolina and fry for a minute on slow flame. Add desiccated coconut and mawa and stir continuously till it is light brown in color. 

                                                                            

This should take just 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let this cool down for 2 minutes. Now add sugar, all the chopped dry fruits, cardamom powder, saunf, nutmeg powder and thoroughly mix this with your hand.

                                                                    





Divide the dough (which was kept aside) into 22-24 pieces and roll it into 4 inch circle. Place this on a gujiya maker and fill 3 tsp of filling mixture on one side of it. Apply water with a tip of your finger to the edges of the D shape gujiya maker. And now close the gujiya maker and press to seal the edges. Take out the dumpling carefully  and place it on a dry plate. 

                                                                           





It's better to prepare 4-5 gujiyas at a time and cover it with a moist cloth to avoid the dryness. Simultaneously heat oil in a skillet for deep frying these gujiyas. Slide 2-4 gujiyas into the oil and keep frying on low flame for best results. Keep flipping the gujiyas for even frying, until they are golden on both the sides. 

                                                               





Place these on paper towel and let cool down. Then these should be stored in an air tight container. Follow the same procedure to make rest of the gujiyas.





                                                                   





User's Comments & Tips:





While kneading the flour for outer crust the dough should be neither too soft nor too tight.
You can make the inner filling a day in advance.
The thickness of the dough while you roll into 4 inch circle should not be thin. Then the chances of breaking gujiyas while frying becomes high. And it should not be very thick also.
For crispy and tasty gujiyas always fry on low flame and keep stirring.
After filling the mawa stuffing in gujiya maker seal it very tight otherwise while frying the stuffing will come out and ruin the oil in the skillet.
Keep a moist cloth over the gujiya dumplings that are ready  for frying, otherwise the outer the outer crepe will become dry.