Gujiya is synonymous with Holi and Diwali. It is a deep fry desi croissant or empanada, popular across India. Vegan Gujiya is the non-mawa version. While Uttar Pradesh and central India calls it gujiyas, Marathis call it karanji, Telegu kajjakayalu, Goans nevri. This is also a recipe for ghughra as it is called in Gujarat and is prepared during Diwali instead of Holi.
Karanji
Nowadays, mawa is adulterated and people also have less time. Also, many people want to go vegan and are weight conscious. Make this Marathi recipe 'Karanji' if you want to enjoy a gujiya without mawa. It is both healthy and tasty. You can make this in advance and enjoy the festive season!
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Working mum and festivals
Some people think only housewives can make sweets and snacks during festivals. Some women are super women. They believe they can have both a career and also pass on traditions to their kids. I am glad my mom is a super mom. She has been working all her life and still managed to stitch dresses, make sweets and snacks at home according to every festival. I am still amazed how she did it? You need drive and yoga to charge you I guess. We didn't eat fast food during our childhood. Instead,mom made lot of snacks and sweets. Yes occasionally we did but every festival was celebrated just as it should be. Now as a mum myself, I try as hard to match up to her energy.
Equipment
- kadai/frying pan
- stand mixer
- Grinder
- mold optional/ below recipe is without mold
Ingredients
For filling:
-
dry fruits (almonds, cashews, walnuts)
-
desiccated coconut fresh or dry
-
coconut oil
-
gud or jaggery / palm sugar
-
Khuskhus or poppy seeds
-
Sooji or semolina optional
-
Elaichi or cardamom powder
-
Water if using sooji
For pastry
- Atta or whole wheat flour
- Sooji or semolina
- Salt
- Oil for vegan/ghee if vegetarian
- Warm water for kneading
How to make gujiya without khoya?
how to make gujiya dough?
How to Air fry Gujiya
You can also air fry the Gujiya to avoid any excess oil.For this, prepare the gujiya as per the above steps.To get more crispy gujiya if you are using an air fryer, you can opt to use the plain flour (maida) instead of wholemeal flour. Refer to the recipe here for Baked namak para.Use the dough as used in this recipe.
In a preheated air fryer (5 minutes) at 170C, cook the gujiya for 14-15 minutes. Spray oil twice in between.If using whole wheat flour, cook for 16-17 minutes or until they sound hollow. Turn over the gujiya once in between.
Store these in an air tight container.
Read the Vegan Gujiya recipe below
Vegan Gujiya recipe
Equipment
- kadai/frying pan
- stand mixer
- Grinder
Ingredients
Stuffing
- ½ cup dry fruits almond,cashew,walnut
- ⅓ cup desiccated coconut fresh or dry
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 3 tablespoon gud or jaggery / palm sugar
- ½ teaspoon khuskhus or poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon sooji or semolina optional
- ½ teaspoon elaichi or cardamom powder
- 2 teaspoon water if using sooji
Pastry
- 2 cup atta or whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoon sooji or semolina
- A pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoon oil for vegan/ghee if vegetarian add 2 tablespoon more oil if using air fryer
- 1 cup Warm water for kneading
- 1 tablespoon flour with 1 tablespoon water for sealing
- Oil for frying
Instructions
Stuffing
- Grind the nuts and roast in a pan for few minutes with poppy seeds(khuskhus)
- Add desiccated coconut ,roast for few minutes, add coconut oil
- Add caradamom powder,jaggery
- Once jaggery has melted, add raisins turn off the heat
To shape the gujiya
- Take the ingredients for the pastry dough in a bowl
- Knead with water in a semi hard dough.
- Roll a piece of dough ,place a spoonfull of filling
- Press from all sides. Do not leave any open gaps else mixture will come out while frying. Start binding the edges using finger tips. Place the index finger of right hand. Now, roll the immediate part of covering to bind it
For deep fried Gujiya
- Prepare the gujiya and keep them ready for frying
- Fry on low heat,take out when golden brown
For Air fried Gujiya
- In a preheated air fryer (5 minutes) at 170C, cook the gujiya for 14-15 minutes. Spray oil twice in between.If using whole wheat flour, cook for 16-17 minutes or until they sound hollow.
- Store these in an air tight container.
Notes
Substitutions
For a vegetarian version, you may fry karanji in ghee. If you like your milk solids or mawa, use instant khoya using full fat cream and milk powder. This is still better than using store bought mawa to make mawa gujiya.
Variations
There are many ways of making gujia. Usually, it is made of all purpose flour or maida and deep fried. However, you can always replace some with whole wheat flour instead. Filling can be customized according to taste. Add chopped nuts as per your taste. You can use a gujiya mold or make it without one as in the above recipe. Coat it with powdered sugar or with sugar syrup if you like yours much sweeter. You can air fry them. Bake them and later shallow fry in oil if you are calorie conscious.
Storage
Gujiya is a simple recipe which can be made 1-2 days in advance before any festival. You can make it even before any travel and it can last for 7-10 days at room temperature.
What are the Holi special sweets recipes in India?
Click here to learn to make organic Holi colors with food colors. Click here For more vegan recipes. Also, click here for more recipe videos.
Neelima Chowdhary says
How much coconut oil?
When to add khus-khus and suji?
bhavana bhatia says
hi neelima, you need to add 1 tbsp coconut oil , and khuskhus along with nuts at the start. Sooji is option, but if you want to add you may add that at the start.if you use sooji, the stuffing will be more soft due to addition of water. However without the sooji it self it turns out well.
Thanks for pointing out, we have updated the ingredient/step