Mawa Gujia/ Karanji (Baked n Fried)

Does Gujias/Karanjis need any introduction ???? Naaah

But yes for all my western readers I would like to sum it up a bit. Gujia is a sweet dumpling made with plain flour and stuffed with either Mawa/khoya or suji/dryfruits/coconut. Traditionally they are deep fried in ghee or oil, but this time I tried for some baked ones also. Believe me they taste as good as the fried ones and a bit healthy at the same time :). The sugar gets little caramelized and taste amazingly good. So here is the recipe for Mawa Gujia.

For homemade mawa recipe click here.

Ingredients for the outer covering :

• Plain flour (maida) : 2 cups 
• Ghee/clarified butter : 4 tbsps 
• Milk : 1/4 cup

Ingredients for the stuffing :

• Khoya/mawa : 250 gms
• Roasted suji : 2 tbsps
• Dessicated coconut : 4 tbsps
• Raisins : as per the taste
• Chopped Cashew nuts + Almonds : as per the taste
• Green cardamom powder : 1/2 tsp
• Powdered sugar : 250 gms (adjust as per the taste)  

Method :

• For the covering, sieve flour and rub in ghee, till it becomes of a kind of bread crumbs. Add milk and knead into a stiff dough (If needed add more/less milk). Cover it with a moist cloth and keep aside to rest for half an hour.
• For stuffing, roast khoya in a pan until it turns light brown and sweats ghee. Then remove it from the flame, transfer to a bowl and let it cool down completely. 
• When completely cooled add sugar, dry fruits, cardamom powder, suji, coconut and mix well. (If sugar is added when the mawa is still warm, then sugar will melt and make it liquidy) 
• Divide dough into small balls. Roll out dough balls into small puris (not very thick nor very thin) of appx 4-4.5 inches diameter, then place the puri in the cutter and put 2 tbsp of mava mix, apply little water with fingertips on the edges and then close the cutter and press. Remove the extra dough. This will seal the gujia. Now carefully take it out and place on a oil smeared plate. Keep the gujias covered with kitchen towel. Repeat the same procedure with the rest of dough balls.
• If you do not have a gujia mould then roll out puris in proper round shape. Place stuffing on one half, lightly dampen edges and fold the other half over the stuffing and press edges firmly using a fork.

For Frying :

• Deep fry gujias in a wok/pan with oil/ghee. Keep the flame on med to low while frying. Once turned into golden brown color drain and place on an absorbent paper. Serve hot.

For Baking :

• Bake the gujias in a preheated oven at 180 degree C, for 40-45 (minutes depends on the oven). Do apply some milk with a brush on the gujias before baking. This will keep the shining.

Once the gujias are completely cooled, keep them in an air tight container and eat them till a week or unless finished :) 

Bye n Happy Cooking
Priyanka :)