Mawa Gujiya ( Holi Special)

With ‘Holi’ the festival of colors round the corner the most special delicacy associated with the this vibrant festival popularly known as ‘Gujiya’ has started showing up in the sweet shops and even in the grocery stores.With easy option of buying Gujiyas still many people prefer making these at home.Gujiya making is a time consuming process and requires lot of patience.

At times it tends to become very tiring but even then it turns out to be a pleasure all in the spirit of the festival…..hence no complain.Moreover home cooked goodies turn out to be most delicious as while preparing them one tends to put in heart and soul apart from the choicest ingredients used and every one from family to friends eagerly look forward to such delicacies associated with the festival.Gujiya is a crescent shaped deep fried short crust pastry with sweet mawa and nuts stuffing.Traditionally two types of Gujiyas are available,one which are coated in the sugar syrup after frying and another without sugar syrup coating.Nowadays baked Gujiyas have also become popular among those who want to avoid the fried stuff.The Gujiyas which are coated in the syrup tend to be more sweeter but have an advantage that they do not turn soggy even if the fat(shortening) added into the dough is little less.

The Gujiyas without coating is less sweet but if the amount of fat(shortening) added into the dough is not enough ,the pastry tends to be soft and not crispy hence precision is must and dough making is an important part.I prefer making dry version of the Gujiyas and have come up with the recipe of the same.So to check out the recipe let us jump to the recipe of delicious Gujiyas.

Recipe

Makes: 20

Ingredients:

For the sweet stuffing

• 250 gm mawa/khoya( I have used home made mawa)
• 1/2 cup powered sugar or bura sugar or according to taste
• 1/2  cup desiccated coconut powder or according to taste
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts of your choice( I have used only resins)

For the pastry dough

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup ghee (clarified butter) for shortening
• Water to knead the dough
• Oil or ghee for frying

For pastry sealing slurry

• 1 tsp all purpose flour
• Water

Method:

Preparing the stuffing

• In a pan preferably non stick pan cook mawa on a very low heat and continuously stirring till it is pink in color.Put off the flame and let it cool down.
• Once it has cooled down mix in coconut,cardamom powder ,nuts and sugar according to taste.The mixture should appear slightly crumbly.
  

  

  

Preparing the dough

• Mix in the clarified butter (ghee) uniformly in the all purpose flour and should appear like a fine crumb.
• Add water little by little into the flour mixture and knead a medium soft dough.Cover the dough with a moist cloth and allow to rest for 20-30 minutes.
  

  

Making the Gujiyas

• Prepare the pastry sealing slurry by mixing all purpose flour and water and forming a thick paste.
• Roll the dough into a thin sheet of uniform thickness of about 2-3 mm.
• Cut circles with the cookie cutter or a katori of dimension ranging from 4-6″.
• Put the stuffing at the center of each circular disc.
• Apply pastry sealing slurry at the edges of the circular disc and gently fold into half moon shape sealing the edges carefully.
• Twist the edges like a rope to add design to the edges.
• Prepare all the Gujiyas in the same manner and keep them covered under a moist cloth till you fry them.
• Heat oil in a deep skillet and deep fry Gujiyas on low heat till they are golden and crispy.
• Drain them on an absorbent paper .
  

  Rolls a portion of dough into a sheet of uniform thickness of about 2-3 mm

  

  Cut into discs of about 4-5″ dia using a katori or a cookie cutter

  

  Round discs

  

  Apply slurry at the edges and spoon the filling at the center

  

  Fold into half and press the edges to seal

  

  Twist the edges to give a beautiful edging

  

  Prepared Gujiyas ready to fry

  

  Fry on a very low heat

  

  Fry till golden in color

  

  Fried Gujiyas
• Enjoy hot and fresh with molten stuffing inside or after they cool down.
• Store in an air tight container once they have cooled down.
• They stay good at room temperature for more then a week.If you want to store for longer duration you can refrigerate them .

Tips & Tweaks:

• Always seal the Gujiyas carefully and do not over do while stuffing as while frying the Gujiyas puff up and there are chances that the stuffing may leak and spoil the oil.
• While cooking the mawa for stuffing do not brown it too much as it tends to get cooked while frying inside the Gujiyas also and may get caramalized inside the Gujiyas.But cooking of mawa till light pink color is must to improve the shelf life of the Gujiyas.
• Always use ghee as a shortening in the dough while frying can be done in any neutral oil or ghee itself.
• Edges of the Gujiyas can also be designed using gujiya mould.But before cutting the edges in the mould let the Gujiyas dry out and become firm.

Enjoy!!!………………………………………..Happy Cooking !!! & Happy Holi !!!