Gujhiya - Part II

Let's begin from where we ended yesterday. We will now make the Gujhiya's with the stuffing that we made but before I start that let me reminiscence a little about my childhood. We used to live in a township and during every festival all aunties of the same group would assemble at each other's place turn by turn and would help in making stuff like Gujhiya which is a tiresome & boring job. I remember how much fun we kid used to have then and would also blackmail our mothers into letting us make some Guhjiya's. My brat did a little of that today, he hijacked our main tool i.e. the spoon with which we shape the Gujhiya. I had to finally play The Car Story to get him off our back.

Sigh!! good old days!!! Anyways, let us get on with the job

Ingredients

Maida -            1/2 Kg

Water -            For making the dough

Ghee/ Dalda -   For frying

Ghee/ Dalda -   3-4 Tbsp for Moin

Stuffing -          Ingredients & process is here 

Melt the ghee/ dalda for moin. Take the maida in a parat and add the moin. The trick of adjudging the correctness of the moin is that when you mix it with the maida and take it in a hand a ladoo should form (like in the picture). Now slowly add the water and make a dough which is tight, quite like the way we make for poori. Cover the dough and leave it for 15-20 mins.

I forgot to melt the ghee! You shouldn't

See A ladoo/ lump to check the correctness of the moin

Done

Now, get yourself a chakla, belan, this spoon with which you can cut the ends or the Gujhiya cutter. I will now let the images talk

All Set!

The mold! We used a spoon cutter

This big a portion of the dough

Roll out the poori, remember it should neither be too thick nor too thin

Put the stuffing the center

Bring in the sides together to seal (you can apply a little water on one side to seal it). Remember to close it properly otherwise the stuffing can break out while frying. Also remember not to over stuff. 

Now cut the corners

Like This

Ready!

1/2 Kg dough made 55 Gujhiya's for us, you can adjust the quantity accordingly.

Take a Kadhai, add the Ghee/ dalda (we used dalda because Ghee would have been too heavy) and let it get heated up. Points to note while frying the gujhiya's

• When you are starting the oil should be warm. Check the heat by putting in a small ball, if it springs up immediately you are ready to fry.
• Keep the flame at medium and put in 3 pieces of Gujhiya.
• Within a minute the poori will swell up, turn the gujhiya.
• Keep turning them till they turn pinkish and then take them out.
• Maintain same heat all the time.
• Be Patient!!! :D

Ready to be fried

Another view

In the oil

Done

The Bunch is ready!

Phew! Thank you Reema for making me do this, hope you make them!! And a bigger thanks to my Mother In Law for teaching me this and being there, without her I wouldn't have made this because she did the 60% mehnat here. 

Have a great holi everybody :)

Gujhiya - The Stuffing - Part I

Let us get on with the most important dish without which Holi is incomplete especially in all North Indian Homes. Gujhiya, is a time taking dish and you need to have patience while making it. Many of my Holi memories are associated with how I used to sit with my Mom while she maked them year on year. How I would request her to involve me and how she would graciously allow me to roll out one or two poori's for this. Sigh!!! Good old days!!!

We are making this in phases and since I have time & mood right now I decided I might as well put up the 1st part here.

Gujhiya

Ingredients for the stuffing

Khoya/ Mawa -     1/2 Kg

Powdered Sugar - 1/2 Kg

Sooji -                   200 gms

Desi Ghee -           2 tbsp

Elaichi -                 5-6

Dry Fruits -            Raisins & Cashew nuts a handful each

The most crucial part of the stuffing is the mawa which is readily available at all dairies. However my MIL doesn't have a very good opinion about them so she makes her own Mawa religiously. Sadly for me I have never been a witness to it as she makes it when I am at work because she feels that if we make it when I come back it would be very late :-( but I owe it to her for doing all this mehnat for us.

MIL's efforts!! The Mawa!

In a skillet add the ghee and put the sooji in it. Fry it at low flame till it turns a light brown like in the picture.

Before!

After!

Now add the Khoya in it. Powder the Sugar along with the Cardamom and add it to the mixture along with the dry fruits. The stuffing, also known as kasar is now ready. Let it cool down & store it, to be used later for making the Gujhiya's.

Waiting to be sweetened

Ready to be Powdered

Added to the Khoya + Suji Mixture

Throw in the Dry Fruits!

Waiting to be stuffed!

Here is the Part II of this recipe.

Besan Ke Ladoo!

This afternoon I updated my Personal blog and talked about how I was planning to make various dishes for Holi. After reading that post Reema commented, "Why don't you share recipes for these things pre-holi, so that the lesser ortals like me can also attempt making them at home. I say, try to post some tomorrow. But do it before Holi, otherwise it wil be too late." 

After reading her comment I realized it wasn't a bad idea at all, though it would be a tight fight for me because I seldom blog from home but then I thought there is no harm in trying. I finally decided to give in to the challenge because I know that there are many people like me who would want to make these things but they either lack in motivation or guidance. In my case I have the benefit that my MIL lives with me and knows a lot about making sweets. She loves making them and is very sweetly passing on the tips to me. So what better way than jotting down the recipes here (along with the tips).

So lets begin without much ado the Besan ke Ladoo

Besan Ke Ladoo

Ingredients

Makes 30 pieces

Besan (Gram Flour) -                       1/2 kg

Powdered Sugar/ Sugar Boora -      300 gms (400 gms if you like extra sweet)

Ghee -                                              300 gms

Dry Fruits - Raisin & Cashew nuts    A Handful

Process

Heat the ghee on a high flame in a Kadhai (skillet) and add besan to it. Keep stirring on the high flame for 2-3 mins and then reduce the flame. Keep stirring the besan so that it doesn't get stuck and neither does it burn. This is a long process but you need to be patient.

Begining

You need to be careful while putting the ghee because if the quantity of same is in excess it will be very difficult to bind the ladoo's (I had committed this mistake during diwali and my ladoos were quite sticky) later. You can check the correctness of the quantity of ghee by checking the consistency of the besan in the kadhai. The consistency should be like a halwa. See the picture below.

Check the Consistency!

Keep turning the besan and turn off the gas went it turns light golden in colour. Also remember that you need to stir the mixture for some more time because the vessel is very hot and the besan can burn.

Stir like there is no tomorrow

Let the mixture rest for sometime and in the meanwhile you can powder the sugar. It is however preferable to use the boora as it gives a nice texture to the Ladoo. Out here the same is not available so my MIL made it at home and I will post a separate post for that, for now you can substitute that with the sugar.

See the change in the colour, It is ready!

15-20 mins later take the besan and add powdered sugar & dry fruits to it. The trick here is that the besan should be lukewarm when you add the remaining ingredients in it. The reason behind it is very simple, they are easier to bind then. Mix them well and the ladoo's are ready to be made. Take a small portion in your palms and very firmly smooth roll it into a ball.

Ready to be married!!

Sweetened!!

Merged!!!

Saas Bahu aur Ladoo!

Ready to be devoured

Enjoy!!!

Amla Murabba

In January my MIL expressed a desire that we should make Amle ka Muraba, Tomato Sauce and Lemon Achar. Due to my tight schedule I knew that I won't have time to make them but I also knew that she really wanted to make them. When she was in Jabalpur she used to make these things besides Mirch ka Achar, Desi Ghee, Aam ka Achaar etc at home and I knew that she missed this part of her routine a lot. It is because of this very reason I agreed to her request and decided to bring in the required stuff.

Lemon Pickle!

To be honest I was also yearning to learn these things because there is a charm in making things at home. I remember that in our childhood days these things were common and we always had a benefit of eating homemade sauce and other stuff & in a way I want to pass on the memories or charm to Arnav. In fact during my diwali break I and MIL and had made Mangodi & Badi (if you are from North you will know what I am talking about). What works for us is that this house of ours gets ample sunshine (Which is must for making these items).

So she made the Murabba & the lemon pickle all alone. But I helped her in making the sauce. The Murabba as expected was a big hit and thus we decided to make another batch of it and I told my MIL that this time she will teach me how to make it. So, this Saturday the Murabba was made and here is the recipe, which is very simple.

Amla Murabba

Ingredients

Amla -    1 Kg

Sugar -   1 Kg

Water -   3-4 glasses (amlost double of Sugar + Amla)

Elaichi -  8-10 powdered (Cardamom)

Grate the Amla's leaving the seed aside. Just ensure that not a single spoilt piece is grated.

In a heavy based utensil add the water & sugar and put it to boil. Once the water starts bubbling add the grated Amla's. Initially you can cook it at high flame but reduce the flame after say 10 mins. Keep stirring in between so that the mixture doesn't stick at the bottom. In case you feel that the water is less you can add at a later stage but the quantity that I have given is more or less accurate.

You need to cook it for 45 mins to one hour. The colour of the Amla would change and the sugar will become more like chashni.

When the Amla gets cooked, mixes well with the water and the final consistency is such that liquid isn't running it is cooked. See it looks like this. Let it cook down and then add the powdered Cardamom. Once it is totally cool store it in an airtight vessel (preferably glass vessel). You can keep it in sun for a day so that it lasts long. This Murabba will last for 2-3 months without refrigeration. Just ensure that you do not handle it with wet hands i.e. not a drop of water should

Easy to make, this Murabba comes with loads of health benefits

• Good for Skin
• Good for digestion
• Loads of Vitamin C and as my FIL says 1 Amla = 3 Oranges
• Good for eye sight
• Cools your body
• Increases body resistance

etc etc....the best part here is that the benefits of Amla (which you can read here & here) do not get diluted even when it is cooked for a long time. So what is stopping you from making it? It will take 2 hours of your life and will add many more ;-). It is best had with Paratha's/ roti's or to be eaten as is.

Up Next Baigan Ka Bharta!