KARANJI, KARCHIKAI, KAJJIKAYALU

I have recently posted the recipe of Shakar para or Shankar pali it is called for Diwali.  This is another recipe which is made during diwali by Maharashtrians, Kannadigas and Andhrites.  Karanji  in Marathi, Karchikai in Kannada & Kajjikayalu in Andhra, is a dish made with Maida in half circle shape  with some filling inside.  The filling can be made in two ways.  I made  this during 90s and afterwards have not bothered to make it as you need minimum 3 people to make it if you are making in  large quantities.

Since I wanted to post the same in the blog for Diwali, I made an attempt to make it and it was real success.

watch the You tube to get an idea  8P2mF4-Ocrc
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Let us see the recipe now:

Ingredients:

For the outer cover:

1 cup maida
1/4 cup semolina, suji, rava (optional)
1 tbsp melted ghee
pinch of salt
1/2 cup warm milk for kneading the dough or plain water

oil for deep frying;

Filling:

1st method;

1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup fine semolina, suji, rava
2 tsp ghee
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
2 tsp poppy seeds,  khus khus
a generous pinch of jaifal powder
a generous pinch of sunth  powder (dry ginger powder)
2 tbsp mixed nuts viz. kaju, badam, kismis, chiroli, ( charonji. sunflower seeds)

2nd method:

1 cup  semolina,suji, rava ( fine)
1 cup besan, chickpea clour
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
2 tsp poppy seeds
a generous pinch of jaifal powder (optional)
a generous pinch of sunth powder (dry ginger powder) optional
2 tsp mixed nuts as above.


Preparation of dough:

1.   Sieve the maida and mix maida, rava (if you are using)  and the  melted ghee, salt.
2.  Mix well.
3.  Add slowly the warm milk or water  and make the dough.  ensure that the dough is not too thick and not too loose.
4.  Cover and  keep aside.

Preparation of filling:

1.  In a bowl mix the dry fruits, elaichi powder, (cardamom powder) jaifal powder, sunth powder and powdered sugar.
2. Heat tawa, roast the desiccated coconut till it give a nice aroma.  Similarly roast the khus khus too separately.
3.  roast the rava with ghee till it turns slightly brown in colour.
4.  Mix the roasted rava, coconut,  khus khus, and mixed nuts, powdered sugar and set aside.

Now divide the dough into equally portions and shape into balls.  roll out each ball into a circle.  keep some  filling in the center and fold it to make a semi circle apply little water on one side of the circle i.e. where you have kept the filling near to that.  cover it with the opposite side portion, .press well the edges to seal it well otherwise the filling will come out while frying.  You can press the edges with the back side of the fort to get a design or  we get a spoon and a disc with cut edge to cut the crispies OR we get the karanji mould.  you can keep the rolled out  puri on it and fill the mixture.  Apply water on the designed portion, cover it with the other edge and press the mould.  The design will form automatically and you get a nice designed karanjis.  fry them in low heat.  while frying it will puff up immediately turn to the other side to cook both the sides equally to a nice light golden colour.  cool them and keep in airtight container.  remains for weeks together if handled properly.  If you are using milk, it is better to consume it early.  With water you can keep it for two weeks if you wish.  Before that I am sure the container will be empty.



Variation:  The filling can be anything viz. 2nd method or you can add khoya/mawa.  \
For savory version:  add some veg mix, potato bhaji, fry and serve hot with tea.

Happy Diwali  Do give me your feed back.