My 92nd recipe, "Mawa Gujiya", a North Indian special occasion sweet / dessert. Gujiya is nothing but a sweet dumpling made with flour and stuffed with khoya. Having born in the southern part of India, when I grew up we never used to celebrate Holi. And I have never heard of this sweet.
But, ever since I started this blog, more than me, RK is very interested in looking up the calendar. And letting me know the festivals and celebrations from all over the world. I guess that is his secret plot to make me prepare dishes from different cuisines, so that he can enjoy them later.
Trying to make a Holi recipe
When it was Holi time, it was tough for me to decide on the recipe to prepare. Seeing the wide variety of dishes being prepared for Holi, I was completely lost. However this Mawa Gujiya seemed interesting to me. It was similar to the Somasi I make for Krishna Jeyanthi. However using khoya in the filling sounded interesting and delicious to me.
I then went hunting for the recipe on the internet. Since I could not find one recipe which appeased me, I took bits and pieces from multiple place. Added my customizations wherever needed. You would have probably guessed what I would tell next. Yes, indeed the Mawa Gujiya came out exceedingly well. The taste was just amazing, perfect for any celebration 🙂
Happy Holi !!! "Holi is an important North Indian spring festival, also known as festival of colors. Holi is generally celebrated on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalgun, which usually falls in March or sometimes early February. The celebrations start with a Holi ka bonfire on the night before Holi where people gather, sing and dance.
The next morning is a free-for-all carnival of colors, where participants play, chase and color each other with dry powder and colored water, with some carrying water guns and colored water-filled balloons for their water fight. The festival signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair ruptured relationships."
Mawa Gujiya | Holi Sweet Recipe
Mawa Gujiya
Ingredients
- Oil - For frying
For Dough
- ¾ Cup All purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp Semolina | Sooji | Rava
- 1 Tbsp Ghee
- a pinch Salt
- ⅓ Cup Warm milk
- Water - as needed
For Filling
- 1 Cup Mawa | Khoya
- ⅓ Cup Freshly grated coconut
- 10 Almonds (Skinless and sliced)
- 10 Pistachios (Skinless and sliced)
- 10 Cashews (roughly chopped)
- 20 Raisins
- ¼ tsp Cardamom powder
- ¼ Cup Sugar
For flour paste
- 1 Tbsp All purpose flour
- 2 tsp Water
For Sugar syrup
- ½ Cup Sugar
- ½ Cup Water
- 2 drops Rose essence
- a large pinch Saffron strands
- Lemon extract - few drops (Optional)
Instructions
- Take the flour in a mixing bowl, add sooji, ghee, salt to it and rub them with your hands to get them well combined. You will get a crumbly mix.
- Now add the warm milk, sprinkle water (if needed) and mix to get a smooth dough. I added about ½ tsp of water. Keep the dough covered with wet cloth for about 20-30 minutes.
- Meanwhile we will start with the filling. Heat a pan, add the khoya and saute in low- medium flame until it turns slightly golden brown. By now the oils in them will start to ooze out. Turn off the flame keep it aside and let them cool down to room temperature. .
- Peel the skin of almonds and pistachio by soaking them in hot water for 5 minutes, and then slice them finely.
- Dry roast the freshly grated coconut in low-medium flame for a few minutes until it is slightly dry.
- Now to the cooled khoya, add the roasted coconut, sliced and chopped nuts (preserve some for garnishing), raisins, sugar, cardamom powder and mix thoroughly. Filling is now ready.
- Prepare a flour paste by mixing flour and water thoroughly.
- Now we will come back to the dough. Again knead the dough to make it soft. Divide it into small equal sized balls and roll each of them into thin discs. Now place a spoon full of prepared filling at the center of the disc and apply the flour paste to the sides of the disc. Fold to form a semi circle. With the help of your fingers press the sides to get the perfect packing with no gaps.
- Then fold the corners of the gujiya as shown in my video or just cut with a pizza cutter to get a perfect shape. You can also give a fork impression on the corners.
- Repeat the same with all the dough balls. Then heat a kadai with oil. Fry the prepared gujiyas in low-medium flame until both the sides turns golden brown by flipping them at regular intervals. Do fry them in batches to maintain the oil temperature. Drain the excess oil on a paper napkin.
- Now we will move on to the sugar syrup. Heat a pan with sugar, water and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the essence, lemon extract, saffron and let it boil until one string consistency. Turn off the flame. Now add the fried gujiyas to the sugar syrup. Immerse them such that both sides are coated with syrup. Remove the gujiyas and transfer to the serving plate. Garnish with chopped nuts we had reserved.
- Enjoy warm or chilled.
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