Mawa Gujiya Fritters Recipe

With Diwali only a day away, here is the last in my series of classic Indian sweetmeat recipes to help you celebrate  the Festival of Lights.

These little pastries are very tasty and easy to prepare. They are basically pastry circles filled with a sweet lemony milk solid filling that are then folded into half moons (rather like mini Cornish pasties), deep fried to cook, dipped in sugar syrup and garnished with nuts before serving

Mawa Gujiya Fritters Recipe

Ingredients:

For the Dough:
140g refined flour (maida)
1 tbsp fine semolina (sooji)
2 tbsp oil
120ml water

For the Filling:
200g lemon khoya/mawa, grated
2 tbsp desiccated coconut
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp green cardamom powder
60g chopped mixed nuts (almonds, pistachios, husked melon seeds, raisins, chironji)

oil for deep frying

To Garnish:
200g sugar
120ml water
2 tbsp finely-sliced almonds and pistachios

Method:

Begin with the filling. Mash the lemon khoya, turn into a pan and start cooking on medium heat until it begins to soften. Add the sugar, nuts, ground cardamom and desiccated coconut. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens enough to begin leaving the sides of the pan. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.

For the dough, combine the flour, semolina and oil in a bowl. Mix well then work in enough of the water to form a soft dough. Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead for 3 minutes until it is soft and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball, cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rest for 10 minutes.

After this time knead the dough once ore then divide into 20 portions and roll these into small balls. Divide the filling into 20 equal portions as well and roll each portion of the filling between the palms of your hands into balls.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into 10cm (4 in) diameter rounds. Moisten the edge of a round with a little water then place the ball of filling on one side. Fold the other half of the dough over to form a half-moon. Crimp the edges and press down to distribute the filling evenly.

Repeat this process with the remaining dough and filling mixture. Heat oil in a wok to a depth of 5cm. When the oil is hot (to dest, drip in a piece of the dough; if the oil is hot enough, it will immediately sizzle and will float up to the surface of the dough) add the gujiyas one by one (fry only about 4 at a time and do not over-crowd the pan).

Continue cooking over medium heat, and as the gujiyas flat to the top of the oil, turn them over gently to ensure that they fry evenly. Continue cooking until evenly golden brown all over then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

As the gujiyas are frying, prepare the garnish. Boil together the sugar and water in a pan over medium heat until the syrup is thick. Turn off the heat, then dip the gujiyas in the sugar syrup when they have drained. Allow to sit in the syrup for a few minutes then remove immediately with a slotted spoon. Sit on a wire rack to allow the excess syrup to drain away.

Garnish with the sliced almonds and pistachio whilst still warm and stick. Allow to cool and solidify and serve. They can be stored in an air-tight tin for up to 15 days.

You can also serve the gujiyas as soon as they are fried, without dipping them in the sugar syrup.

Accompany with Arabian Coffee.

For more information on Diwali, see the Celtnet Diwali Recipes and Information page.
For more classic recipes from the Indian sub-Continent, see the Celtnet Indian sub-Continent recipes page.