India is a country of diversified culture and different festivals. The country is famous for its exquisite variety of royal sweets and desserts. Every festival celebrated in the country brings a special sweet along with it with a big bang. For example, ghewar is famous for Teej celebration, til ke laddoo for Makar Sankranti and last but not the least, gujiyas for Holi celebration.

Holi, the festival of colours is round the corner. So today we have come up with a sweetmeat popularly known as ‘Gujiya’ in North India. The basic ingredients used to make this sweet include mawa/khoya, sugar, dry fruits, maida and pure ghee. This delicacy is prepared by making a stiff dough of maida and then it is divided into small equal parts. These small parts are rolled into a ball shape and then these balls are flattened into thin discs. These discs are filled with a rich sweet stuffing and then sealed tightly. Finally, the dumplings are deep-fried until golden crisp. Amazingly delicious! With every bite you will feel the rich taste of the stuffing and the crispiness of the outer layer. So try this gujiya recipe from North Indian cuisine for the upcoming festival.

Here is the recipe

Yields: 20 gujiyas

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 45-60 minutes

Ingredients

Maida: 2 cups

Mawa: 200 grams

Pure ghee: 1/2 cup (melted)

Dry coconut: 1 cup (grated)

Cashew nuts: ¼ cup (coarsely chopped)

Raisins: ½ cup

Chirongi: ¼ cup

Melon seeds: ¼ cup

Cardamom powder: 1 tsp

Powdered sugar: 150 grams

Pure ghee for deep frying

For sealing paste

Maida: 2tbsp

Water: 3 tbsp

Method

Mix well maida and one-fourth cup of melted ghee. Add water slowly to make a stiff dough. Knead the dough properly to make it smooth. Cover it with a moist cloth and let it rest for an hour. In the meantime, prepare stuffing. Take mawa, crumble it with your fingers in a bowl. Heat a non-stick pan. Put mawa into it after turning the flame low and cook it until it leaves fat. Keep stirring frequently. Turn off the flame. Transfer the mawa in a plate to cool at room temperature.

When the mawa cools completely, add powdered sugar, cashew nuts, chirongi, melon seeds, coconut, cardamom powder and raisins. Mix all ingredients well together. Prepare the sealing paste by mixing maida and water. Make a thick paste. After an hour knead the maida dough again. Make 20 small balls out of it. Roll the balls in circular disc shape having a diameter of 4 inches. Grease the balls with melted pure ghee so as to make the rolling process easy and mess-free. Keep the dough and the discs covered with moist cloth all the time. Place the discs one by one on the gujiya mould. Put the sealing paste on the edges after pressing them gently.

Fill the inner space with two teaspoons of the prepared mawa-dry fruit stuffing. Fold the gujiya by closing the mould tightly. Press the edges of the mould hard so as to seal the gujiya properly. Repeat this process with all other rolled discs. Once all gujiyas are filled and sealed, heat pure ghee in a deep and broad frying pan to fry the gujiyas.

When the ghee is appropriately hot for frying, fry gujiyas in small batches flipping upside down until golden brown and crisp. Fry the gujiyas on medium-low flame. Take them out on kitchen towel or tissue to soak excess ghee. Let them cool properly at room temperature. Store them in an airtight box.

Tips to make deliciously flavoured mawa gujiya

Buy a gujiya mould beforehand if you do not know how to seal them using fingers. Sealing gujiyas using fingers and keeping the shape intact requires expertise.

Make a stiff but smooth dough using maida, pure ghee and water. Knead the dough properly and give it a rest for at least an hour. Keep it covered with a moist cloth all the time. After an hour knead the dough again for few minutes so as to roll crack-free discs out of it. Keep the dough covered with moist cloth while making gujiyas as well. Keep the discs also covered with a moist cloth in a big plate after rolling them.

Roll the maida balls after greasing them with melted ghee. Do not dust any kind of flour to roll the discs.

If you make khoya at home, make sure to cook it until light brown in colour.
If the stuffing of the gujiya seems to be dry after mixing all ingredients, add few drops of milk and mix well to soften it.

Make sure to seal the gujiyas properly, otherwise, they will open while getting fried and spoil the whole batch in which they are getting fried.