Gujiya Bites
PREP TIME
15
COOK TIME
60
REST TIME
15
TOTAL TIME
90
CATEGORY
Snackery
SERVINGS
60
EQUIPMENT
Mixing bowl
Sieve
Frying sauce pan
Slotted large spoon
Large trays
Large Plate
Paper towel
Pasta sheet roller
Ravioi mould
Gujiya making tool for traditional shape
Rolling pin
Gujiya Bites
Break the mould & try new things. Use ravioli maker to give the classic Gujiya a makeover. Create squared bitesize Gujiyas for a trendy spin.
These cute Gujiya bites are small enough to pop into your mouth without making a mess, yet large enough to satisfy your sweet tooth without being overly sweet.
Add an element of surprise and a sense of playfulness to your holiday festivities with this adorable Gujiya nibbles.
PREP TIME
15
mins
COOK TIME
60
mins
REST TIME
15
mins
TOTAL TIME
90
mins
CATEGORY
SERVINGS
Snackery
60
EQUIPMENT
Mixing bowl
Sieve
Frying sauce pan
Slotted large spoon
Large trays
Large Plate
Paper towel
Pasta sheet roller
Ravioi mould
Gujiya making tool for traditional shape
Rolling pin
INGREDIENTS
DOUGH
2 1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp Ghee
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp water
FILLING
1/3 cup whole cashews
1/3 cup whole Almonds
1/4 cup pistachio
1/4 cup sultanas
1 1/2 cup Desiccated coconut
1/4 cup fine semolina
1 tsp Cardamom powder
11/2 tbsp Ghee
1 cup icing sugar (add after cooling)
Ghee for frying, Oil for vegans
INSTRUCTIONS
DOUGH
In a large mixing bowl, sift plain flour (maida)
Add salt and melted ghee (or margarine for vegans) to the flour
Rub the ghee into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Grab a handful of the mixture and press it together to make a clump. If the clump does not hold together nicely, add extra ghee (1 tsp at a time), rub thoroughly, and try again. If the clump sticks together without falling apart, the dough is ready for kneading. Note, if you use too much ghee, then the dough will absorb lot of oil during frying.
Knead the dough by gradually adding small amounts of water to the flour mixture.
The dough should be tight and firm but not be too hard. Just slightly tighter than roti/pasta dough.
Cover the dough with a damp cloth or cling film and set aside to rest for 15 minutes.
FILLING
Combine cashews, almonds, and pistachios in a food processor.
Pulse the processor to coarsely ground the dry fruit or chop them using a knife. Note: do not grind it into powder.
Melt the ghee (or margarine for vegans) in a frying pan over low heat.
Add in sultanas (raisins) and cook till they plump up.
Collect the plumped-up sultanas in a separate bowl for later use.
Keep the additional ghee in the wok to roast the remaining ingredients of the filling.
Add semolina to the warmed ghee and roast until it loses its rawness and turns a pale pink in colour.
Toss in the desiccated coconut and roast it until it is lightly toasted without change in the colour.
Add in the coarsely grounded cashews, almond, and pistachio mixture, cooked sultanas, and freshly crushed cardamom powder
Combine all the ingredients and roast for a couple a minutes
Turn off the heat and allow the filling mixture to cool completely.
Once the filling mixture is cooled, mix in powdered sugar thoroughly.
The filling is ready.
SHAPING
To make square bite size gujiya you require a pasta sheet roller and ravioli maker mould.
Set up the pasta sheet roller on the kitchen counter.
Give the rested dough one good knead, and then pull out a small portion of the dough to form a rectangular-shaped thick flat piece.
Adjust the roller thickness to its widest setting 1.
Dust the rectangular dough piece and feed it into the pasta sheet roller.
The dough will come out slightly more flattened and stretched. Pass the dough back again through the roller at the same thickness setting.
Now change the pasta sheet roller knob setting to 2 (which is one level thinner setting than the widest one).
Lightly dust the rollers and the dough sheet with flour. Feed the dough sheet through rollers to flatten further. Pass the dough sheet again on the same setting for smoother and longer sheet finish.
Again, change the setting to 3 and feed dough through rollers twice. The dough should be flexible, non-sticky, and as wide as the machine rollers.
Check the sheet thickness, if you are happy with it then stop rolling the sheet, if not then move to next setting and pass the dough sheet twice through the rollers.
I kept my dough sheet to a thickness of 2-3 mm and a length that was longer than the ravioli-mould tray to allow for indentation laid it on the ravioli mould.
When two sheets of dough are ready, place one sheet over the ravioli mould tray. Gently press the sheet into the square depressions of the mould to form square cups. Ensure the dough sheet is wide enough to sit over the raised zig zag edges.
Spoon of Gujiya filling into each pocket. You want enough filling in each ravioli to have a nice shape, but not so much that you will have trouble sealing the edges of the pasta.
Flatten the filling with the back of the spoon.
Wet all the edges of the dough lightly with water. This will help the gujiya to have a tight seal and not break when frying. Too much water or the dough will get sticky
Place another sheet of dough over the gujiya filling. This will form the bottom of the gujiya.
Press the two layers of pasta sheet together using a rolling pin. Start with gentle pressure to press out any air and to form a seal.
Then use more pressure especially on the zigzag grooves to cut the pasta into individual gujiyas.
Peel off excess dough from around the gujiya.
Turn the mould over and tap it on the counter to release the gujiyas. Use a knife to separate any gujiyas that are stuck together.
Place the gujiya in a single layer on a tray dusted with flour or lined with baking paper.
Make rest of the gujiyas and arrange them on a tray ready for frying.
Cover the gujiyas with a damp cloth to keep them from drying.
Shaping classic Gujiya is detailed in the post.
FRYING
Heat ghee (or flavourless oil for Vegans) in a saucepan halfway full.
Test the ghee (oil) temperature by dropping a small piece of dough in the oil. If it takes 5-6 seconds to float up then the ghee is at perfect temperature to fry gujiya or else further heat or cool ghee (oil) to achieve the optimum temperature.
Gently slide the gujiyas in the ghee. Add enough pieces that can comfortably fit the frying pan and don’t overcrowd.
Fry gujiya at low to medium heat. Once the gujiyas float to the top, turn them over carefully and fry the other side.
Deep fry them till they have become golden brown. Keep turning or moving gujiyas at regular intervals for even browning.
Once gujiyas are golden brown and crispy from all sides, scoop them out of the ghee (oil) using a slotted spoon and place them on a paper towel to absorb excess ghee.
Frying rest of the gujiyas in the same way.
NOTES
When preparing dough, the amount of ghee should be optimum. Less ghee will not make the dough flaky while more ghee will make the dough absorb more oil while frying.
All the nuts for the filling should be coarsely ground and not powdered.
When rolling dough sheets in pasta sheet maker, do not skip the thickness setting levels and jump to the thinner setting to speed up the dough rolling. Do so will cause the dough to wrinkle and crack.
Always cover shaped gujiyas with damp tea towel to prevent it from drying or else they will crack open while frying.
To make gujiyas flaky and crispy, ghee should be heated to low to medium heat. If the ghee is too hot, the gujiyas will brown too quickly, leaving the insides undercooked and soggy. Low heat will cause the gujiyas to harden rather than flaky and crisp.
Check my post for other filling options and details.
Refer to the post for all the making photos and additional recipe tips.