GUJIA/ KAJJIKAAYALU

A traditional authentic Indian sweet without this Diwali is incomplete. Store bought sweets can’t bring you happiness which brings home made mitai. Traditions bring people together from preparing sweets to sharing with relatives and friends. So, this is our duty to pass on such cuisine to the next generation. Sharing with you all the traditional authentic recipe of South India. Infact there are many different ways of preparing these sweet dumplings, sharing the recipe which I have learnt from my hometown.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Total time: 50 minutes

Cuisine: south Indian

Course: sweet dish

Type of dish: sweet dumplings, desert

Ingredients:

All purpose flour – 1 cup

Semolina/sooji – 1 tsp

Ghee – 2 tsp

Salt a pinch

Stuffing/ filling (sweet):

Sugar/ jaggery – 1 cup

Sooji – 1/ 2 cup ( roasted in ghee)

Coconut grated – 3/4 th cup

Roasted chana Dal powder – 1/4 th cup ( optional)

Dry fruits of your choice ( cashew, raisins)

Cardamom green – 5 to 6

Oil for deep frying

Tips:

1. Moist floor with ghee before mixing water in to it.

2. Along with roasted chana Dal you can add roasted ground nuts, sesame seeds powder.

3. You can opt sugar and jaggery equal ratios or only with sugar or only with jaggery as per your taste n choice.

4. Other ingredients for stuffing like coconut and sooji and dry fruits also you can change or adjust as per your preference.

5. Fry gujias in low flame.

Procedure:

1. Seive flour and add pinch salt, semolina and Ghee. Give it a nice mix . Now add water little by little to the well moisted flour. Knead well like chapathi dough. Keep aside for half an hour.

2. Finely chop all nuts of your choice. Roast them in ghee.

3. In a plate mix roasted coconut powder, roasted sooji, roasted chana Dal powder, jaggery powder and dry fruits.

Roasted chana Dal powder

4. Add 2 tbsp of sugar to cardamom and grind well in to fine powder. Add this powder too in stuff mix. Mix well.

5. Make lemon sized balls out of rested dough. Roll in to flat round roti like. Apply water on the edges for sticking or closing dumplings properly.

6. Take one tsp sweet stuff and place on rolled flat round roti. Close it carefully n fold the edges. You can use moulds to shape these dumplings. Close it securely unless it may spoil oil while frying.

7. In pan heat oil for deep frying. Leave dumplings slowly in oil. Fry in medium to low for crispy gujias.

8. Remove and place on tray. Prepare other batches too.

9. Let it cool and store in an airtight container. Stays fresh for a month.

Happy cooking!

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