Gujiya (Crispy Flaky Indian Sweet Dumpling stuffed with Milk Solids and Nuts)

Gujiya is a fried sweet prepared exclusively during Holi (the Indian festival of colors). The original method involves kneading a dough with all purpose flour and ghee to make it crisp and flaky. A special stuffing is prepared with Khoya (milk solids), coconut, dried fruits and sugar. It is then filled in rolled out discs of dough and deep fried. Finally, it is dipped in sugar syrup to make it deliciously sweet. Freshly prepared Gujiya can be kept at room temperature for two to three days and in the fridge for up to a week. Now deep frying takes some time and you have to be careful with the hot oil. My puff pastry Gujiya will save a lot of preparation time and taste delicious. Give them a try! If you do want to try the traditional method, I have included that as well.

First you will need Khoya or Milk Solids. In India, Khoya is found in soft crumbled texture which instantly starts melting and softening up upon heating. I decided to use readymade Khoya and found it in solid form, like a block of Paneer. Upon heating it continued to remain dry and crumbled and posed this question – is this even real Khoya? Well, it is! You just need to add some milk or heavy cream in it and then cover and cook it for a few minutes. It will immediately soften up and melt and make a delicious stuffing. A small tip: If you buy readymade Khoya and it asks to be kept frozen, do not keep it in the fridge or outside or else it will go bad.

Next comes dry fruits. Traditionally for Gujiya, cashew and raisins are a must. You can also add other dry fruits but remember to stick to the total amount.  Do not skip the desiccated coconut, its addition makes this sweet dumpling so special. 

I have never been too interested in playing with colors. They seem fun but taking them off later on is a bummer. Holi is such a huge festival in India, that everything closes for it. So, it is pretty much like Thanksgiving. If you don’t play colors, there is nothing to do but to sit at home and spend time with your family. Luckily for me, my mom has this tradition to prepare loads of food. She would cook so many varieties of food that they won't fit on our huge dining table! Different types of curries, rice dishes, Kababs, Dahi Bara and these homemade Gujiyas. 

The best part about making homemade stuff is, you get to do that with your family members/ friends. So a few days before Holi, me, my sister and mom would start making the Gujiyas. We would chop the nuts, fry the Khoya and knead the dough. It is also interesting to know that there are molds for making Gujiya. So you just place the disc of rolled out dough inside the mold and fill it up with stuffing. Close the mold and press it down. Ta da! Sweet Dumpling is all ready to be deep fried. And there are different types of designs so you can make different shapes of Gujiyas. Here if you don’t find a Gujhiya mold, you can also use a dumpling press.

My mom usually makes the Khoya at home from scratch. However, it takes time because the Khoya is prepared by heating milk over low heat till it thickens completely. 

You can mold the Gujiya in several ways, you can use a readymade mold or seal it by hand or crimp it. Although traditionally Gujiya is always deep fried and dipped in sugar syrup, not everyone prefers the rich sweet flavor and so I have improvised the recipe. 

I do hope you give these delicious sweets a try, there is nothing better than homemade traditional sweets especially when shared with friends and family.

Ingredients:

• Cashews – 1 cup, cut in halves
• Raisins – 1 cup
• Khoya (Milk Solids) – 1 packet (about 10-12 oz.) or homemade (recipe below)
• Milk/ Heavy Cream – about 1 cup
• Sugar – white or brown, 1 cup, powdered
• Desiccated Coconut – 1 cup
• Green Cardamom – 2-3, powdered
• Puff Pastry dough – 1 (homemade or store bought)
• All Purpose Flour – 1 cup (to roll the pastries)
• Ghee – 1 tablespoon (optional)

Tips: 

• I used my Nutri Bullet (milling blade) to grind the Cardamom and White Sugar together.
• You can also use Confectioners' Sugar or Icing Sugar.

Directions:

• Bring the Khoya to room temperature and crumble it with your hands.
• Start by dry roasting the Cashews. So heat a big skillet over low heat and add the cashews in it. When they look beautifully toasted (about 5-7 minutes), add the Desiccated Coconut. Allow it a few minutes to get toasted. 
• Next add the Khoya. Now, if you have fresh/ homemade Khoya, it will start melting down as soon as it is heated. If you are using a readymade Khoya packet (like me) it will continue to look dry and retain its solid form. Add the Milk/ Heavy Cream and cover and cook it for 3-4 minutes. This will break the solid Khoya and soften it up. Our goal is to have soft Khoya so if it looks wet, continue frying to dry up the excess milk/ cream. Keep the heat on low. 
• Add the Raisins and mix.
• Once the Khoya is done, transfer it to a wide bowl and let it cool down. Once it is cool enough to handle, you can press a handful in your palm to make sure it is done perfectly. It will have a rich buttery texture and clump together.
• Now mix the Powdered Sugar and the Cardamom Powder in the Khoya mixture.
• The stuffing is ready! 

Tip: My mom’s recipe calls for dry roasting the coconut. We made two batches of the stuffing. 1st by dry roasting the coconut and 2nd by adding a tablespoon of Ghee in it. Both tasted delicious.

• Next we will fill the stuffing and make the Gujiyas. If you are using puff pastry sheets (like I did), make sure to cool the stuffing completely before filling it in the puff otherwise the puff pastry will start melting before it gets baked. Use a good quality puff pastry sheet for maximum flavor. We got ours from Whole Foods. You can also make the Puff Pastry dough at home, yourself.

• Wrap and refrigerate all the pieces (except one) till you are ready to roll, fill and bake. We are going to work on the pieces one by one.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper and make space in the fridge because we will be keeping the puffs inside till we are ready to bake.
• Sprinkle some All Purpose Flour on your work station/ kitchen counter, place the piece, sprinkle some flour on it and roll. Try to roll it as even as possible then place a big cookie cutter or round disc on it and cut the sides using a knife or pizza cutter. If your puff pastry sheet already came in big pieces, there is no need to roll it. Also, if you are using a Gujiya mold you can just place the sheet on it and proceed to the next step.

• Now place the filling in the center. Fill it up as much as you can.
• Coat the edges lightly with water and join/ crimp them together. If using the mold, make sure to put the filling in only one half and carefully close the mold. Press to seal the dumpling (Gujiya). You can then carefully take apart the extra piece of the dough.

Design made using a fork

• Place it inside the fridge and take out the next piece. Repeat the process with all the pieces. Place the ready puffs on the baking tray about 1 inch apart.
• Once all the pastries are ready, heat the oven to 400°F.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes or until they look dry, crisp, and deep golden-brown.
• Take out the baking tray from the oven and transfer the ready Gujiyas carefully to a cooling rack and then to a beautiful platter. 
• Serve hot and enjoy!

Tip: You can brush some ghee on top of the pastries. Puff pastries are so delicious and buttery on their own so this step is purely optional.

Baking these sweets saves a lot of time, you don’t have to knead the dough. You don’t have to deep fry them. Also you don’t have to worry about the seal breaking off and stuffing spilling in the hot oil. You can just put all the Gujiyas together on the baking tray and bake for half an hour while you are free to do other things.

How to make Khoya at home

Ingredients:

• Whole Milk – 1 cup
• Milk Powder – ½ cup + ½ cup (if required)
• Sugar – ½ teaspoon

Directions:

• Boil the Milk in a big pot over medium heat. Using a big pot will prevent the milk from boiling over. Maintain the heat, do not increase to high otherwise it may burn. Once the milk comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low.
• Take another bowl and put about ½ cup of Milk Powder in it. Add about ¼ cup of hot milk in it and stir to dissolve, making sure there are no lumps. Transfer to the pot and keep stirring.
• Add the Sugar and stir to mix.
• Now the milk will thicken very quickly, add more milk powder (a little at a time) if the milk still has a thin consistency. Very soon you will find it difficult to stir. Use a rubber spatula and scrape from the bottom of the pot to prevent the milk from sticking.
• Once the milk thickens completely and looks a bit dried, turn off the heat. Khoya is ready.
• This recipe can be doubled for more quantity.

Traditional way to make Gujiya

Ingredients:

• All Purpose Flour – 2 cups
• Ghee – about 1 cup (melted) + 2 cups (or 1 cup each of canola oil and Ghee for frying)

Directions:

• My mom makes this shortbread like Gujiya dough, it is very crispy and flaky.
• In a large bowl mix the All Purpose Flour and Ghee together. Mix with your fingers.
• Grab a handful and press between your palm. If the mixture breaks, then add some more Ghee. Once it can form a shape, add water (a couple drops at a time), to collect the dough together. Do not knead.
• Spread a little Ghee on your palm and spread it all over the dough ball. Then cover and let it rest for about half an hour.
• Once the dough has rested, divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Roll each part into a log like a thick breadstick. Divide both the logs into 8-10 equal pieces.
• Take a piece of dough between your palms and roll it into a ball. Press the ball between your palms lightly to flatten it a little like a disc. Put all the other balls of dough back in the bowl and cover it. This will prevent the dough from drying out.
• Roll the disc to a round shape, about the size of your palm.
• Follow the procedure given above to fill the dough and make the dumpling. Follow the same process till you run out of dough or stuffing. Keep the prepared dumplings covered with a kitchen towel.
• Heat Ghee (Oil) in a deep frying pan or wok over medium heat.
• Drop a ball of dough in the Ghee to check if it is hot enough. Then add a few Gujiyas in the wok. Do not over crowd. Fry till they look golden brown in color then transfer on a paper towel or napkin to absorb the excess ghee.
• Eat, share and enjoy!

Tips:

• If the Gujiya starts opening up while frying, it means it hasn’t been sealed properly. There is nothing to do for the Gujiya which is in the wok, however, you can collect the stuffing with a spoon so that it doesn’t burn in the hot oil and create a bad flavor for all the Gujiyas. Make sure to seal the Gujiyas very well before deep frying them.
• You can also bake these Gujiyas following the above process. Brush a little Ghee or Sugar Syrup on top of them for a gorgeous color.

 

All Purpose Flour and Ghee dough, filled and hand crimped, brushed with Ghee

Recommended reading: 

• How to Deep-Fry food with Confidence?
• How to check if the oil is hot enough to fry

Love Indian sweets? Try these as well:

• Chaler Payesh (Bengali style Rice Pudding)
• Allahabadi Fruit Cream
• Gobindobhog Chal diye Patali Gurer Payesh (Bengali Rice Pudding with Date Palm Jaggery)
• Moong Dal ka Halwa (Indian Yellow Lentils Dessert)
• Rabri (Clotted Cream in Condensed Milk)
• Sevai ki Kheer (Semai Payesh / Vermicelli Pudding)
• Dry Fruit Laddu (Mamma’s homemade sweets with dry fruits)
• Gajar ka Halwa (Indian Carrot Dessert)