Gujiya Recipe

Gujiya is a sweet dumpling with melt in the mouth yet crispy outer and sugary and delightful stuffing made up of mawa, dry fruits or semolina (sooji) or coconut etc. Being brought up in Rajasthan, I always thought of Gujiya as a synonym to Holi. I mean, for me Holi is incomplete without gujiya. I have always seen every aunt of mine, my mom making delicious Gujiyas for Holi. And not only Holi, but gujiya is also prepared on Diwali and other festivals. Basically, it is sweet for festivals and therefore, should be perfect. Here I am listing a few things I have learned from my mom and aunts which help me make decent gujiyas. Hope you will find this useful.

Tips for perfect Gujiya Recipe

• The dough for gujiya recipe should be perfect. The perfect dough will give a crisp yet flaky still melt in mouth crust. Here is the link to make perfect dough for Gujiya.
• The stuffing should be appropriately sweet. Always taste before stuffing. It should be sweeter than what you want. Because when it will be stuffed and fried it gets combined with the outer coating and won’t be as sweet as it was when tasted.
• To make the stuffing, I always roast mawa slightly till pinkish, if using mawa for the stuffing. I like to cool it completely before adding the remaining ingredients. Further, I use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar.
• Stuffing the gujiya properly is very important. Gujiya should not be stuffed too much otherwise it will open during frying. And it should not be filled too little to give hollow gujiyas. For the standard mould of gujiya I use 1 and 1/2 tbsp stuffing and for a 4-inch diameter, I use 1 tbsp of stuffing.
• The best way to seal the gujiya us by using a slurry of all-purpose flour and water instead of only water. 2:3 is the ratio I keep for the slurry i.e. 2 tbsp all purpose flour and 3 tbsp water.
• For shaping the gujiya there are a number of ways. Traditionally ladies shape gujiya with their hands. There is a typical technique for that. Am not an expert at it so haven’t tried it yet, at least not for the blog. The most convenient way and the best for beginners is to use moulds easily available in the markets, especially around Holi and Diwali. However one can shape gujiya without moulds too. For that, I use a large bowl to cut a roundel and then fill the stuffing and seal the gujiya using a fork. I will explain the techniques in my forthcoming gujiya posts.
• Always keep the dough for gujiya and prepared gujiya (before frying) covered with a damp cloth so that the skin doesn’t dry up.
• For frying gujiya use medium hot oil. The oil should not be too hot otherwise gujiya browns very fast leaving the insides undercooked. And if it is not warm enough, gujiya might open up and be oily. Therefore oil should be moderately hot.
• Further, if gujiya are added to hot oil they might get bubbles. And won’t have the smooth crust.
• After frying gujiya take them out on an absorbent paper.

Do let me know some more tips and tricks that you might have learned from your mommies and aunts and let me make better gujiyas. Do comment and share.