This is one of the few North Indian dishes I learned from my
mother in law. Since we stayed with my husband’s mama’s family in Lucknow for
six months after our marriage, majority of North Indian cooking I learned from
mamiji, who is a great cook. Gujiya and Diwali are synonymous; it is always
prepared during Diwali. Once when my daughter was in the hostel, I wanted to
send with her for friends, I made 70 gujiys, which is my record!
Ingredients
For the filling
¾ cup khoya (solidified milk) (for 30 gujiyas)
1 ½ cups sooji (Bombay rava)
1 cup sugar
2 tbsps raisins
2 tbsps broken cashews
½ tsp cardamom power
½ tsp nutmeg powder
For the covering
4 ½ cups refined
flour
A pinch of salt
2 tbsps ghee or oil
Water, roughly 1 ½ cups
Oil for frying
Instruction
-
Roast the sooji till dark brown and keep aside.
-
Roast khoya till the fragrance comes and keep
aside.
-
When they are at room temperature, break khoya
into finer particles with fingers. Add sugar, raisins, cashew nuts, cardamom
and nutmeg powder to the roasted sooji and khoya. Mix well and the filling is
ready now.
-
Knead the refined flour, salt, and ghee adding
small amounts of water at a time, into a stiff consistency.
-
Spread the dough into a big round, cut small
rounds from that.
-
Hold it on the left palm, put a small quantity
of the filling in the centre, and apply water along the rims. Fold into half
and press and fold along the margin.
-
Heat the oil, reduce the flame to minimum and
fry the gujiyas from both sides. If fried on high flame, it will become soft,
not hard and crispy.