Karanji - Coconut stuffed treats

 

It is Diwali time again, time to make sweets and savouries, time to light up
diyas, time to decorate with rangoli and torans, time to rejoice, time to
spend with loved ones.
I started of by making Karanji's , a must in Maharashtrian households come Diwali.
This sweet is one of my personal favourites.
There are two ways to make these, one with a dry filling and one with a moist.
I make the one with the dry filling.

This quantity makes 40 Karanji's.

Ingredients:

For the cover:
3 cups flour (maida)
3/4 cup semolina (rawa)
1 cup warm milk
4 tbsps ghee or oil

For the filling:
2 cups  dry shredded coconut (unsweetened)
3 tbsps white poppy seeds(khus khus)
1 tbsp white sesame seeds (til)  (optional)
6/ 8 tbsps chopped nuts (almonds, cashews)
2/3 tbsps golden raisins
8/10 tsps brown sugar or grated gur
(i added 8 tsps.You can taste and sweeten as per your taste).

about 4 cups of oil for deep frying

Method:
Mix the flour and the semolina and add the ghee.Mix till it
resembles bread crumbs.Using about 3/4 cup of the milk
knead the dough to a firm texture (not hard).Knead till smooth.
Cover and keep aside for about half an hour.

In the meantime, dry roast all the ingredients for the filling on a slow flame,
except the sugar.

Roast till light golden and you get a nice aroma .
Now turn off the flame and add the sugar and mix well.

Now make small balls of the dough.

Roll these into small discs.

I roll about five at a time.
Moisten the edges with warm milk.
Now lift the disc carefully in your hands and fill
with one tbsp of the filling.

Now seal the edges.

Now crimp the edges with a fork.

 

 

Or you can delicately fold the edges.

Now heat the oil in a pan and do not let it smoke.
On a low/medium flame fry 4/5 of them at a time.

By the time you fry one batch, you can roll and stuff the next batch.
When they puff up, gently turn them over.Fry till golden on both sides.

Let cool completely and then store in an airtight container.

Do not fry on high flame as they will not cook from inside and will
not be crisp.
Stays good for at least  two weeks if you dont finish eating it in the meantime :)