GUJHIYA ( HOLI SPECIAL )

Hello everyone

Holi , the name itself is enough to describe its vibrant colorful celebrations  with lots and lots of delectable snacks . The main snacks which is usually made on this occasion in UP, Bihar and MP is gujhiya. Gujhiya is a very delicious sweet and crunchy snacks made with outer covering of flour and rich filling of dry fruits, nuts and milk solid. Gujhiya is made in different ways, some made with only mawa and dry fruits filling and finally dipped in suger syrup and some are made dry with sugar and dry fruits mawa filling. I am preparing the second one. Those who ate this delectable snacks start drooling over it on mere mention of holi as both compliments each other. And those who remained unaware of this delicious treat, should must try once, you will fall in love with these cuties. I remember, when we were kids , we used to dig in these cuties in such a speed that our parents had to hide some from us for guests. Feeling nostalgic, As holi is just few days away so today I am sharing this special snacks recipe , so that you can also try and make your colorful festival even more delicious and enjoyable.

Step wise recipe Is given below, do try and please share your experience with me.

GUJHIYA ( HOLI SPECIAL)

Yield: 50-60( depend on size)

Time: 2:30 - 3 hrs

Ingredients 

For filling:

1 cup semolina ( sooji)

1/3 cup dry fruits( almonds, pistachio, cashews), finely chopped

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup desiccated coconut

3/4 cup sugar ( or as per taste)

10-12 green cardamom

1/2 - 3/4 cup khoya or mawa

For mawa or khoya :

1 cup milk powder
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 butter or ghee

For dough:

3 cup all purpose flour
3-4 tbsp ghee ( as per need)
Chilled water for kneading dough

Method:

First of all take all purpose flour in a big bowl, add melted gee in it and keep mixing with your fingers. Now hold some dry flour ghee mixture in your palm and press hard , if on opening your fist the flour holds the shape then your flour mixture is ready to be kneaded otherwise add some more ghee and do the same test again . Don't add too much ghee at a time as excess ghee will also spoil your dish, so add only required quantity.

Now using cold water knead the dough, neither very hard nor soft, stiff dough which can be easily rolled.

Cover it and keep aside for later use.

Filling preparation:

Dry roast semolina till nice golden and keep aside to cool. Saute mawa till light pink ( milk solid) if you have ready made. Or prepare it by adding milk powder, milk and ghee in a wok and cook on low flame till everything is mixed well and acquire the consistency of mawa. 

Add this to semolina. Now add all chopped nuts , raisins and desiccated coconut to semolina. You can also lightly roast all dry fruits( I skipped). Grind sugar with cardamom and mix in semolina mixture. 

Now mix everything well with your fingers or spatula. Your super yum filling is ready to be filled in dough covering. This filling is so yummy that I can't resist my self from having few more spoons while tasting 😃.

Final preparation:

Take an orange size ball of dough and roll a big thick chapatti of it. Now using a cookie cutter or sharp edge steel glass/ bowl cut rounds from it. Now again roll these rounds in thin chapatti , nearly transparent. You can see the strips on board through it. Or you can also take very small balls and roll very thin individual chapatti instead of cutting and rolling.

Place this chapatti on gujhiya mold, run wet finger round its edges. Fill 2-3 tsp of filling on this chapatti in middle carefully , leaving the edges clean. Otherwise edges may open while frying and spoiling your oil.Now close the mold and press hard to seal the edges. Remove extra dough from mold and keep the prepared gujhiya on a dry tray.

 Similarly make all the gujhiyas and place on tray at some distance to avoid sticking to each other . Cover the on batch with clean cloth while making another to avoid drying.

Now heat sufficient oil in a wok, you can use ghee or vegetable shortening too. Add 4-5 gujhiya at a time, depend on size of your wok. Fry on medium heat then lower the flame and fry till they become nice golden from both sides. Drain on a kitchen towel or tissue paper. 

Let it cool completely then store in an airtight container to maintain its crunch for long. Your super delicious holi snacks is ready to please your guests.

Always add gujhiya in oil at medium heat and then lower the flame to avoid oil drunk snacks. And this ensure nice crunchy end product for sure. Never fry on high heat as you may end up with dark texture snacks which will become soft on cooling. 

Never try to put too much filling inside the dough as it may open in oil and will spoil whole batch along with oil. Be careful in lifting raw gujhiya as they are delicate . Keeping these simple precautions you can prepare perfect holi snacks and earn everyone's praise.

If you don't have gujhiya mold then don't worry, there are many alternatives, after rolling thin chapatti put filling in middle of it , run wet finger on its edges and fold in half circle and press edges together to seal, either make small folds like momos or press with fork to give nice impressions on edges and done. 

You can also use dough cutter to make nice shape of gujhiya.

You can use any dry fruits of your choice and as per availability. Quantity of semolina, mawa , dry fruits and sugar can be adjusted as per your taste and availability, as there is no any hard and fast rule for taste.

Everyone love to relish on these super yum snacks, specially kids.

Hope you all will love to make and enjoy these super scrumptious snacks this holi and please don't forget to share your experience with me. Your valuable comments and suggestions are precious to me.

Happy cooking....