Gujia

About Gujia:

Gujia is an Indian sweet commonly made during the festive season called Holi. This is a soft and flaky Gujia recipe made with khoya/mawa along with semolina. A must-try recipe. These soft and flaky Gujia’s are made up of Khoya or mawa which is again made up of whole milk.

For making the stuffing for the gujia’s, into the khoya or mawa then added stir-fried or dry roasted semolina, coconut powder (coconut shredded or powdered form), and dry fruits and slightly sauteed in pure desi ghee/clarified butter. Gujia’s made with pure desi ghee tastes simply awesome. While you prepare the filling for the gujia all the ingredients are mixed together and are sauteed in low flame with pure desi ghee or clarified butter. This is the time when a nice aroma develops while you prepare this mixture of pure mawa and sooji i.e semolina and this is the perfect combination according to me as a texture and taste-wise both.

This mixture is then cooled down while we prepare the dough for soft and flaky gujia’s. The flour is kneaded by adding pure ghee or melted butter until soft and smooth. Then by shaping up the dough into the form of Gujia the mixture is being added in the center of the rolled dough and folded and shaped followed by deep-frying and garnishing and then served.

Taste and texture of Gujia:

These are soft and flaky gujia, small-sized that I made because I personally like to have small bites of these awesome desert a lightly crispy outside and soft inside.

Ingredients used to make the dough:

Plain flour 2 cups

Pure desi Ghee or melted butter 5 tablespoons

Salt a pinch or 1/4 teaspoon

Lukewarmwarm water as required

Directions to prepare:

Into a bowl take two cups of plain flour I.e maida. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt into it and mix. Then add 5 tablespoons of ghee or clarified butter gradually into it and start to rub them with hands to mix. Gradually add lukewarm water and knead until it forms a soft and smooth dough. Note: This mixture gave me around 30 small-sized gujia’s.

Gujia Stuffing:

For stuffing, I used semolina and khoya /Mawa in equal proportions i.e 1 cup each of them. 1:1 ratio. And added raisins, coconut powder and cardamom powder for aroma along with icing sugar. What I personally like about this mixture is its perfect texture and aromatic taste. You may also choose to add grated fresh coconut in place of powder. But what I experienced is that this powder gives it a little dry texture with a nice aroma. Note: This mixture can make more than 40 small-sized guji’s.

Ingredients used for making the stuffing for the gujia’s are as follows:

Semolina 1 cup (slightly roasted in ghee)

Khoya or mawa 1 cup

Icing suagr 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder 1/4 teaspoon

Coconut powder 1/4 cup

Ghee or clarified butter 1 tablespoon

Directions to prepare:

Heat a pan. Note: Do not heat too much just warm it up. Add ghee or clarified butter 1 tablespoon. Then add Semolina into it and stir fry in low flame for few minutes or until you see it turned slightly golden in color. Mix 1/4 cup of dry coconut powder into it. You may also use shredded fresh coconut if you don’t have dry coconut powder available at home. The only difference of adding coconut powder is that it makes a slight difference in the texture of the stuffing for sure and gets a little more aromatic. Now finally by adding khoya which is made with pure milk and that too made at home simply tastes awesome. Please check the khoya recipe below. Mix all the ingredients well with hands, and keep it aside for later use while we prepare and shape our gujia.

Please Note: For this recipe, I have used home prepared sweetened mawa as explained below. If you are using unsweetened mawa/khoya then make sure to add little extra sugar while you prepare the stuffing for your gujia’s.

Shaping up the dough:

Uncover the prepared dough after 20 minutes and take a portion of the dough to roll it out. Roll the dough on a flat surface or use a chakla and a belan i.e roller keeping it medium thick. Then by using a cookie cutter cut it out and take out the pieces and place them aside. Similarly, do all and place aside. You may also use a mould to make it. But in this recipe, I’m showing how to make it without a mould by giving it a perfect look.

Roll out every single piece of the cutted dough once again before filling the mawa and sooji mixture to adjust the thickness. Apply water on the sides to help stick the edges.

Put around 2 to 3 tablespoon of the prepared khoya/ Mawa and semolina mixture in the center and by picking from both sides stick the edges tight with the fingertips.

Twist and turn a little at the edges of the rolled dough with the help of the fingertips to make a design. Similarly, do the same and prepare all at once. Place them on a plate to fry once all are done.

Frying:

Heat a pan and add sufficient oil to deep fry the. Make sure not to heat the oil too much. When the oil is warm drop the pieces slowly one by one and fry in low flame. Flip 2 to 3 times while frying these. Gradually they puff up. Once you see the color changes to slightly golden, drain out excess oil and take them out. Allow them to cool and you may garnish with some dry nuts and serve.

Mawa gujiya is usually served plain, once they are cooled, then keep them in an air-tight box and they stay well for some days.

How to prepare Khoya or mawa at home?

Into a thick bottomed pan pour the milk and let it boil in low to medium flame until it reduces in volume. This is a slow and time-consuming process I must say. So whenever you plan to make this recipe try it during free time. By letting it simmer in low flame for a longer period of time the khoya is being made perfect to could be used for any sweet dessert you wanted to try at home.

By the continuous stirring method, it will never stick to the bottom. The pan to be used for making khoya should be thick-bottomed or a Indian Kadai. This is so that the milk does not get burned or browned from the bottom.

Quality of milk:

The milk has to be fresh and full-fat i.e whole milk. Whole milk gives better results. 1.25 liters of milk yielded 250 gms of khoya. Depending on the quality and fat content, the khoya yield can be less or more. You can even make khoya from 1 liter to 2 liters of milk. This khoya or mawa stays good for about 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator or in the freezer, you can keep for 6 to 8 days. Homemade is always tastier and better than buying from the stores according to me.

Preparing the khoya:

While you boil and simmer the milk scrape the milk solids from the sides and add to the milk. The milk will continue to reduce and thickens as its being simmered on a low flame. Continue to simmer and stir until the milk reduces the most and due to its thickness dense bubbles appears on top of it. This is the point when you need to stop continue heating it.

Right at this point before turning off the flame add some sugar (as needed) into it if you want a sweetened mawa or khoya for your recipe. Or you may choose to keep it unsweetened.

Note: Towards the end when the milk has reduced much, make sure to continuously stir. If you don’t then the reduced milk will get browned or burnt. With a spatula, scrape the milk solids from the sides and add these to the bowl. Cover the bowl and let the khoya cool at room temperature. Then you can refrigerate it.

Lastly, once the khoya is prepared, allow it to cool and refrigerate for some time before use. When using for your gujia’s heat them up in some ghee around 1 tablespoon for 1 cup of khoya or mawa in low flame by constantly stirring. The mawa start to crumble up and slightly change in color to pinkish or golden brownish.

Watch the full video for the recipe