Holi Special:Gujia

Gujia  is a sweet made for Holi festival , an Indian festival of colours. All over the country Gujia is so identified. Just as Cakes are for Christmas and Laddu's are for Diwali, Gujia's and Malpua's are for Holi.

Indian's greet each other with platters of different types of sweets and salted snacks on festivals.

Gujia is a North Indian sweet that is very popular in all parts. In the east, specially Bengal however, the name Gujia is associated with another sweet that is prepared with dry reduced milk called Khoya and sugar.

After friends and relatives have played with colours we offer everyone" Gujia".

I have adopted a new filling to put inside the Gujias, over the years and these are liked equally by all. 

Various things are used as fillings....... like a mix of finely chopped nuts-raisins-sugar-dry coconut grated or chopped nuts-raisins-dates-grated coconut  or roasted Semolina-grated dry coconut-nuts- sugar.......etc. The  filling  I use is a bit different from the usual. If you follow my recipe you can make yours different too.

Gujia's are  usually crescent shaped ,with the ends twisted by hand.

In Orissa ,where I spent my Hoil this year the Gujia's were shaped like triangles and sugar coated from the outside.

Coconut Filling that I like to use in my style Gujia

Ingredients :

For the stuffing :

Fresh Coconut,grated..................................1/2 a coconut
Full Fat whole Milk......................................1/2
Jaggery...........................................................2 tbsp
Sugar.............................................................1 cup
Green Cardamom Powder.............................1/4 tsp
Nutmeg (Jaiphal)...........................................1 big pinch
Nuts and raisins,finely chopped.....................2 Tbsp

Heat a heavy bottomed pan and bring the milk to boil and then add the grated fresh coconut. Keep stirring and cooking both together. Its going to take a while so be patient. As the mix starts to dry up add the sugar and jaggery and keep stirring. when the mix is absolutely dry add finely chopped nuts
and raisins ,cardamom and nutmeg powders. Keep aside to cool.

For those who have never prepared Gujia and not even tasted it here's what we are going to do......

For the Outer covering ,we are going to make a Refined flour dough .

Then we will divide up the dough into small equal size balls. From the balls, we will make small round coatings that we will lay on the moulds , put the coconut stuffing/filling prepared above and then after the edges are sealed well, we will deep fry the Gujia's in warm oil till golden.

Now my friend Gautamy Roy Mistry suggests that I bake my Gujia's to reduce the oil content. I have tried doing that with excellent results. You can try as well. 

For the Dough :

Refined Flour (Maida)..............................................2 cups
Refined Oil...............................................................4-6 Tbsp
Water,Warm............................................................as required

In a large mixing bowl add the flour and oil and mix in the water as required to make a medium dough, not very hard and also not too soft. Keep covered for at least 1/2 an hour.Then divide into small equal  size balls. Fromeach ball make small thin" puri's". Place each" puri"on the mould , put enough filling in the middle and then press the mould well to seal. Just like shown above. You can made various shapes  with moulds.

Moulds in different shapes

Gujia being fried

For Frying :

Take a cup of Refined Oil and after it becomes hot reduce the heat and then add the prepared Gujia's in small batches. Keep changing sides so that they don't become too dark .