INDIAN DISHES

As popular Indian festival "HOLI" is around the corner, let's cook traditional dessert without which the festival is not complete .

Image courtesy : Pintrest

GUJIYA

Recipe By : Clarice James

HOLI the "festival of colours " According to Hindu mythology the festival signifies the triumph of good over evil.

Gujiya is the most popular sweet dish eaten on this festival to celebrate joy and victory of good over evil. Gujiya is basically a sweet flaky pastry native to the Indian subcontinent filled with sweet khoya and dry fruits (dried evaporated milk solids, the milk is slowly simmered in a large iron pan, till all its moisture evaporates and it reduces to solids). Now see how to cook Gujiya.

INGREDIANTS

• 4 cups all purpose flour

For filling

• 250 grams khoya

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 tbs green cardamon

• 1 ts finely chopped almonds

• 1/2 spoon semolina

For Dough

• 1& 1/2 cup ghee

• 1 & 1/2 cup water

Procedure

1. Take a bowl, add all purpose flour and water to make a soft dough. To accentuate the taste of this traditional recipe, add some ghee into the dough.

2. Knead well by sprinkling some water. Once the dough attains the perfect consistency, keep it aside for an hour. In the meantime, take a deep-fry pan then saute khoya and semolina till it turns golden and keep it aside to cool.

3. Prepare the filling for Gujiya by adding sugar, green cardamom and soaked almonds to the cooled khoya and mix well. To make this stuffing even more delicious, add some dry roasted nuts and raisins, this will add a nice crunch to the Gujiya recipe. Moving on to the next step, take two drops of ghee or refined oil and spread it well on your palms.

4. Prepare puris and fill them with the stuffing. Then make small round balls from the dough and make a cup-like-space in the balls to fill the sumptuous stuffing. After adding the filling seal corners in such a way that it secures the stuffing while frying the Gujiya. Roll the sides as per your choice of pattern.

5. Heat ghee in a pan over medium flame. Fry the Gujiyas till golden brown from all the sides and serve it with some Thandai and spicy pakoras. Garnish it with some saffron strands and crushed pistachios. You can also serve it with some Rabri (condensed milk).

TIPS

1. The dough plays great importance in making Gujiyas. Just make a stiff dough and let it rest for 30-minutes and roll the puris for making the Gujiya.

2. One of the key points of making Gujiya is frying them at the right temperature. So, make sure that you always fry the Gujiyas on medium heat and give them some time to cook.

3. Never overfill the Gujiyas as they will break open on frying.

4. Last, but not least, always fry the Gujiyas once filled as that will help you frying them and would not even soak that much oil or ghee.

5. You can also use powdered sugar or boora for the filling of these delicious gujiyas.