Want More Deliciousness!
Then Subscribe to our FREE WEEKLY Newsletter for Recipes, Tricks & Much More...
Best Gujiya Recipe: step by step recipe on how to make gujiya filled with mawa, coconut, dry fruits, and cardamom powder. Baked, Fried & Air Fryer . + Instant mawa/khoya recipe using ricotta cheese & milk powder details – Sweet Indian Empanadas
The festival of Holi is incomplete without my Best Gujiya Recipe that’s been passed on from generation to generation and my version talks about making them Fried, Baked or Air Fryer version (as per your choice).
Gujia or Karanji is Indian dessert empanadas that are filled with sweet stuffing made of mawa (cottage cheese mix)/suji, coconut, dry fruit, and cardamom powder.
It’s one of those traditional Indian dessert recipes that made with lots of love and patience – Yes, patience is the key factor.
We have been making the fried version of this recipe ever since I could remember anything about cooking or making food.
But as time changes and so does our health need or other circumstances hence I came up with these baked and now air fryer gujiya versions which to my surprise my parents love and enjoy the most.
The baked/fryer version definitely gets done quickly and you can, of course, have more than 2-3 …. seriously you thought I would say 1-2 😉
I still remember when my grandmom used to visit us, we used to have tons of relatives/family friends come to our place and learn traditional Indian dish or two from her.
And, if it was Holi (the Festival of Color) then I would see her and mom prepare tons of these fried gujiya atleast a week before the festival….they literally made 100’s of them.
Then they were wrapped in cute little jute baskets with colorful clothing and sent over to people’s house for Holi or were given to visitors at our place.
I did use to try my best to help them by either filling the stuffing or pinching the ends of the gujiya with a fork to make that cute design.
Now, as I mentioned above, this post is all about making that perfectly shaped gujiya or Indian Sweet Empanadas and I would elaborate the process step by step with pictures.
Although the recipe is very simple or basic to making any pie crust dough, it still has these few nitty-gritty points.
Which when missed results in sometimes undercooked/overcooked, blotchy or weird looking ones.
A perfectly made gujiya would be ‘ Smooth, Shiny and Almost flakey to touch’ and the filling needs to be slightly coarse in texture, properly filled, so that the gujiya doesn’t burst while frying.
I’m diving the Gujiya Process into 4 Parts:
Make the Dough
Prepare the Filling
Shaping the Gujiya
Stuff and Fry/Bake / Air Fry the Gujiya
This is the MOST Important step in the whole process cause if your dough is not stiff enough or not kneaded well, you’ll end up with blotchy/moist crust. To make a stiff dough, here’s what we do:
1. Add enough oil to the flour mix, so that if you try making a ball in your hand, it binds well. (pic above).
2. Add the chilled water.
3. Make the dough in a food processor or dough machine as it kneads it to perfection.
4. Cover the dough with a slightly moist cloth/kitchen towel to keep it from becoming too stiff.
The traditional gujiya or Indian Empanadas are filled using khoya / mawa (thick milk mixture), sugar, dry fruits, green cardamom, and coconut.
1 Cup Ricotta Cheese
5 Tbsp Ghee
For this particular recipe, I’ve made khoya from ricotta cheese and it is really easy to make in the microwave
1 Cup Milk Powder
1/4 Cup Milk + 2 Tbsp
2 Tbsp Ghee
Remember these 2 Things and they both are as per taste:
1. You can either use a slightly sauteed khoya for the filling.
2. You can roast the khoya with some ghee to brown it slightly more.
Once your khoya/mawa is ready, you just pulse dry fruits (almonds), sugar, green cardamom, coconut powder and khoya in a blender to crumble everything together.
This mixture can be prepared and kept in the fridge for 2-3 days.
This is the easiest step in the whole process. All you need is a round cutter or use a medium-size bowl with slightly sharp ends.
You need to make a mix of flour+water to seal the ends of gujiya before you start stuffing them.
Then take the disc to fill the stuffing and close the ends properly, seal the edges and crimp the edges using a fork.
This step is very very important so that the gujiya don’t open/burst while frying
This is the last step and fairly easy, all you have to remember are these few points:
So, here are all the steps to make the Best Gujiya Recipe (Fried and Baked) for your loved ones.
Enjoy the Festival of Colors with your friends/family and wish you lots of love.
DID YOU TRY MY RECIPE – AWESOME!!!
TAG : #easycookingwithmolly + @easycookingwithmolly on Instagram
Connect with Me Here: Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram
:: You May Also Like ::
Step by step how to make gujiya filled with mawa, coconut, dry fruits, and cardamom powder. Baked, Fried & Air Fryer. + Instant Mawa/Khoya recipe using Ricotta Cheese & Milk Powder. #gujiya
Vegetable Oil - you can use any light oil like canola, olive, sunflower, etc
27 Replies to "Best Gujiya Recipe | Step by Step Gujiya - Baked, Fried & Air Fryer"
alina November 7, 2018 (3:24 pm)
Molly,
You mention 200F for the baked version. That sounds very low a setting (admitteedly I havent tried out the recipe yet, but in preparation to do so). Did you mean 200 Deg C by any chance ?
Molly Kumar November 9, 2018 (3:20 am)
Alina, thanks for pointing it out. It’s indeed 200C