Gujiya is North Indian traditional sweets made during festive season . Nothing makes Holi complete without this gujiya , packed with goodness of coconut , delicious mawa and dry fruits filling . Gujiya is shaped like Cresent or half moon . The sweet filling in the gujiya recipe varies insignificantly across India and it even goes by many different names . Such as our own Nevri  similarly shaped and stuffed with coconut and jaggery filling . It contains no mawa . On the occasion of Varamahalaxmi puja ,we decided to make Gujiya for prasad .

Ingredients :

1 . Maida ( all purpose flour ) – 2 cups .

2 . Ghee ( clarified butter ) – 4 tbsps .

3 . Salt – a pinch .

4 . Luke warm water – 1/4 – 1/2 cup .

For filling :

5 . Mawa –  1 cup .

6 . Grated coconut – 1 cup .

7 . Fine semolina ( rawa ) – 1 cup .

8 . Badam – 1 tbsp finely chopped .

9 . Cashew nuts – 1 tbsp finely chopped .

10 . Raisin – 1 tbsp chopped ( optional ) .

11 . Powered sugar – 1 cup full .

12 . Cardamom powder – 1 tsp .

13 . Ghee –  2 tsp .

Oil or Ghee for deep frying .

For sugar syrup :

Sugar – 1/2 cup .

Water less than 1/4 cup .

For garnishing :

Edible rose petals .

Chopped badam pieces .

Method :

For the dough :

1 . Heat 4 tbsps ghee in a small pan until it melts and becomes warm .

2 . Take maida in a big mixing bowl , add salt . To this add melted ghee . Mix it well . Then rub and mix the ghee and flour with your finger tips to form a bread crumbs like a texture . To check if your moyan ( fat content in dough ) is just right , take some dough and press it inbetween your fist , you are all set . But if it crumbles and falls apart then you need a little more to attain that texture . For crispy texture gujiyas moyan is extremely important .

3 . Slowly add luke warm water in parts and knead it into a firm dough . The dough should feel soft yet stiff but not sticky .

4 . Cover the dough with a damp cloth and allow to rest for 30 minutes .

Stuffing for gujiyas :

5 . Heat little ghee in a frying pan add chopped nuts and raisins . Rost them for few minutes ( 2- 5 ) on a low flame until slightly changed the colour . Take out from the pan and keep aside .

6 . In same pan add grated coconut and dry roast them on slow flame until water evaporates . Do not allow it to change colour . Remove from pan and keep aside .

7 . Add little ghee to same pan , add rawa and fry till fragrant . Do not allow it to change the colour ( Fry them on low flame ) . Once done take it from pan and keep aside .

8 . Add little ghee to same pan . Add crumbled or grated mawa and roast it for about 2 – 3 minutes , once it melts and begins to gather around it self , switch off the flame and let the mawa coll completely .

9 . In a mixing bowl add fried dry fruits , raisins , grated coconut , fried rawa , mawa , sugar powder and cardamom powder . Mix it well , the stuffing is ready . In this stage check the taste and adjust the sugar as per your taste .

How to prepare Gujiyas :

10 . Divide the dough into two parts .

11 . Make a medium Sized log of each part and slice or portion it into equal parts .

12 . Roll each part in your palms to form a ball . Prepare all the dough balls this way and place them in a bowl , cover with damp cloth .

13 . Dust the rolling board with very little flour . Roll the ball with rolling pin to a small circle . Make them thin .

14 . With your finger tip apply water all over the circumference edge .

15 . Place about 1 – 1 1/2 tbsps of prepared filling on one side of the circle , keeping the edges empty . Do not over fill the stuffing as it becomes difficult to shape the gujiyas and this can lead to breaking them in the oil while frying .

16 . Carefully bring together both the edges and join . Gently press the edges . The edges have to be pressed well and sealed , so that the filling does not come out while frying .

17 . Now with help of fork press the edges of gujiyas as shown in the picture below .

Or to make pleated design at the edges . this way the stuffing does not come out while frying and the gujiyas looks good too . Just keep on folding and twisting the edges till the end .

18 . Prepare all gujiyas this way and arrange them on a plate or tray . Keep them covered with damp cloth , so that the gujiyas does not dry out .

19 . Heat oil in heavy bottomed kadai . Once oil is moderately hot , gently slide in the gujiyas in oil and deep fry them in low flame until golden brown and crisp on both sides .

20 . Once fried remove from the oil and set them on a kitchen paper towel .

21 . Fry all gujiyas in similar manner .

22 . If you do not prefer to soak them in sugar syrup then serve them as is garnished with edible dried rose petals and dry fruits .

Procedure of sugar syrup dipped gujiyas :

23 . In a heavy bottom kadai heat sugar and water , bring it to boil , and cook for 5 – 6 minutes on a low flame , switch off the flame .

24 . Dip the fried gujiyas in the warm sugar syrup for a few seconds . Coat it well . Remove from sugar syrup and set aside .

25 . Coat the rest of gujiyas same way and set them aside . Sprinkle some chopped nuts and edible fry rose petals and serve .