How to Make Karanji or Gujiya

Diwali, the festival of food lights, is a time to cater to traditions and taste-buds. With this recipe of Gujiya, or Karanji, both will be served their due. We bring you a recipe video with precious cooking tips, to make sure that even first timers would make no mistakes. Keep the kitchen stocked with this homemade goodness.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp ghee
Salt according to taste

For the filling

1 cup fine grained semolina
2 cups coconut, grated
1/2 cup sugar, powdered
A handful of dry fruits ( chopped almonds, pistas, raisins)
1/2 tsp cardamom (elaichi) powder
A small bowl of milk
Mixture of cornflour and ghee to put on the covering before adding the filling

Method:

To make the filling:

1. Roast two of cups dry grated coconut. Roast till the coconut becomes crunchy.
2. Transfer the roasted coconut to a bowl.
3. To roast the semolina, heat 1/2 tbsp ghee. For the amount of coconut used, roast half the quantity of semolina.
4. Once the ghee has melted, add the semolina. Roast the semolina till it turns a light red.
5. Once the semolina is roasted, add it to the coconut, powdered sugar, cardamom powder and add the dry fruits (chopped almonds, pistas and raisins). Mix all the ingredients well and keep aside.

For the crust:

1. Heat 1 tbsp ghee.
2. In a bowl, add 1 cup all purpose flour, add salt according to taste.
3. Once the ghee is heated, switch off the gas.
4. Add the 2 tbsp of melted ghee to the all purpose flour and salt mixture. Mix well.
5. Add little water to form the dough. Do not make the dough very hard or too soft.

To make the karanji

1. Heat the remaining ghee on a low flame.
2. Make the dough balls.
3. Roll out the dough balls like a chapati.
4. Take a few drops of the melted ghee and spread it on the all purpose flour chapati.
5. Take some cornflour and ghee mixture and spread it on the chapati.
6. Add the 2 chapati on top of it and repeat the process till the third chapati is on it.
7. On the third chapati, ensure that the cornflour mixture has been applied.
8. Once all three are stuck together, roll it. Try cutting the roll horizontally from the centre to ensure that the pleats don’t come out and nor does the filling.
9. Once the roll is cut horizontally from the centre, further cut them into dices.
10. Roll the dough into puri size without flipping while rolling. This will ensure that the layers are seen.
11. Once the covering is rolled, put milk on the edges.
12. Add the filling in the centre according to requirement.
13. After the filling is added, seal the edges creating half-moon shaped pockets.
14. Once sealed, start folding the sealed edges with your fingers. You can also use a karanji roller to give shape to the edges.
15. When the ghee has heated, start frying the karanji.
16. As they turn golden brown, remove them from the oil.
17. Karanjis are now ready to serve.

Image courtesy: Shutterstock