Simplest Gujiya Recipe
Dessert

Simplest Gujiya Recipe | Last Minute, 8 Ingredients Gujiya

I have to admit I found making Gujiyas a bit intimidating. Somehow, I always felt like it takes special skills and a lot of work and ingredients. Until this year, when I’m not in India and missing all the Gijiya fun during Holi festival and decided to make them at home. I am a bit proud of myself of coming up with a quick, simple, 8 ingredient Gujiya recipe that you literally make on the day of Holi too. This recipe is no less delicious, aromatic and flavourful. I made these Gujiyas in under 30 minutes which may have been a world record (kidding!).

What’s Gujiya?

Simply put, Gujiya is a sweet flour pastry with filling inside. Traditionally, this filling has mewa or khoya (milk solids), coconut, ghee, semolina (suji), nuts, dried fruits, cardamom and sugar. The pastry itself is simply made out of a dough of all-purpose flour, ghee and water. They are shaped like Mexican empanadas. Gujiya is mostly made and consumed before and during the Indian festival of colours, HOLI.

The ingredients list in Gujiya can be an extensive one but I came up with a recipe which uses the minimum and best ingredients that makes equally tasty Gujiya. I ain’t calling it the simplest Gujiya recipe for nothing. This recipe only uses 8 ingredients which is crazy when it comes to an Indian traditional sweet treat.

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Simplest Gujiya Recipe

Last Minute Gujiya Recipe

  • Author: Shradha Rawat
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 10 Gujiyas 1x
  • Category: Mithai (Indian Sweets)
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: Indian

Description

If you find making gujiya intimidating, I have for you the simplest last minute recipe. This recipes uses only 8 simple ingredients and is made under 30 minutes with ease.


Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • Water as needed
  • 3 tbsp (for dough and roasting)+ 2 cups ghee (for frying)
  • ¼ cup semolina or suji
  • ¼ cup dessicated or grated coconut
  • 4 tbsp jaggery powder or whole cane sugar
  • 1 tbsp cardamom powder
  • ½ cup mixed nuts, seeds and dried fruits (I used almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and green raisins)

Instructions

Kneading the dough

  1. In a wide pan, add all-purpose flour and 1.5 tbsp ghee. Mix it and rub the ghee in flour really well.
  2. Add very little water (1 tbsp to begin with) water and start kneading. Keep adding very small amount of water while kneading. This should be a a very firm yet smooth dough. If the dough gets wet, add more flour.
  3. Once done, cover the dough with a clean damp cotton cloth/napkin. Let it sit like this for 30 minutes.

Filling

  1. In a pan over medium heat, add 1.5 tbsp ghee. Add semolina or suji to roast. Keep stirring until semolina turns golden brown.
  2. Add dessicated or grated coconut and roast for a min.
  3. Transfer it into a bowl and in the same pan, dry roast ½ cup of nuts and seeds of your choice.
  4. Once it’s done and everything is cooled down, add roasted suji-coconut mix, nuts-seed-dried fruits mix, cardamon powder and jaggery powder in a mixer or food processor.
  5. Blend it until the nuts and seeds starts releasing oil as it will help the mixture bing together well.

Assembly and frying

  1. Scoop out small dough balls and roll it using a rolling pin (belan) on a flat surface to make flat circles of 3-4 inches. Make sure they are a bit thick. Very thin will be hard to handle while filling and flaky after frying.
  2. Then, add filling in between. Add about 1.5-2 tbsp of filling. This might look a lot now but keep in mind that gujiyas will fluff up while frying. Leave the circumfeence completely empty.
  3. On the circumference of the circle, apply water using your fingertip. This is done to stick the edges of the dough together after it’s folded to make gujiya shape.
  4. Fold the dough over. Join and press the edges carefully and press them well so that the filling doesn’t some out whole frying.
  5. Using a fork, make marks on the pressed edge of the gujiya.
  6. Heat ghee in a deep pan. When its hot enough to fry, add the gujiya in the pan and fry until it is golden brown.

Notes

  1. For frying, as an alternative to ghee, you can use coconut oil or a neutral vegetable oil.
  2. As an alternative to frying, these gujiyas can be baked in the oven at 180 C (350 F) for about 40 minutes.
  3. Awesome tip – If you like chaashni wali gujiya, you can make a similar one by slathering honey on prepared gujiyas.

Keywords: mithai, indian sweets, dessert

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