Happy Holi

Holi is a festival of colors, it marks the arrival of spring with flowers blooming everywhere. It also marks the end of winter and also of the spirit of rejuvenation.
I have never been a big fan of Holi,that is the whole water throwing and color spraying, a tilak of gulal and I am done. Try more and you lose me as a friend! My Holi day was spent hiding inside the house watching TV and a knock on the door was enough to send me to the bathroom to stay away from the enthusiastic holi tolis. But I was the first one to request ma to make those pillows stuffed with yummies, yes I am talking about Gujiyas! Celebrations of holi always started with Gujiya's made by mom two days before Holi. Me and my elder brother would do anything to keep ma undisturbed while she is at this labor intensive work. The fruit of her labor was just too good. Bhaiya would start with one and then in 2 hours or so some family member was heard saying "Yes teri biswi hai, bus ker de ab!" (This is your twentieth, stop it already) Mum would find him loitering around the kitchen for "just one more" Ahh, childhood!
Here in States, I don't need to do any efforts to stay away from holi tolis. Infact, may a times its hard to find color and we end up using our daughters washable paint colors!Being in the northeast, Holi is hardly the end of winter(we are going a snow storm right this moment!) My husband, like me is a big fan of Gujiyas. So this year I decided to start the Gujiya making at home, just like ma. I don't like sweets with overpowering sweetness and that's why I keep my Gujiyas simple by not dipping them in sugar syrup.


Oh, in case you are salivating here's the recipe :-)
Ingredients for Filling
Khoya (Mawa) 400 gms
Suji 1/2 cup
Powdered Sugar 2 cups
Raisins a Handful
Cardamom Powder 1 tsp

Crumble or grate khoya. Take a heavy bottomed pan and roast khoya till it turns very light caramel color.You will need to keep stirring it continuously or it will burn! Keep it aside.
Roast Suji the same way. Suji will take much less time than khoya. Keep it aside.
Mix all the above ingredients and your filling is ready.

Tired? Make a cup of tea and relax by the window, enjoy the snow and pray for real spring to show up soon! hmmmmm

For the cover
Maida (All purpose flour) 4 cups
Ghee 3 Tbsp
Water as needed to make a stiff dough

Oil for frying

Melt ghee and rub it with the flour. Work the flour well with your hands so ghee gets mixed in. Take water and make a stiff dough, like you would make for puris and not like chapati dough, which is softer. Cover it with a wet cloth and leave aside for about 30 minutes.

Now go and see if the weather God needs any more pushing!

Work the dough again to make it smooth. Spend about 10 minutes doing this.
Make lemon size balls from the dough and cover them with wet cloth. Now take one ball and roll it like a puri, about 4 inches diameter.
Take 1 tbsp filling, put in the center of the puri.
Moisten the lower edge (the one of your side) of puri with water.
Bring the top edge to the lower edge, in other words fold over the top edge to seal the edges. I use the back of a fork to pinch two layers together which makes those lovely marks while sealing the edges as well.
Now do like this for all dough balls.

I roll out 10 puris at a time, fill them and cover them with wet cloth. And then roll out 10 again and so on....

Now take a heavy bottomed kadai, pour oil for frying. Heat oil, the flame should not be very high or you would get very stiff Gujiyas which have raw dough inside. Keep the flame somewhere between low to medium. Fry two to three gujiyas at a time and let them turn light brown by turning often. Take them out on a paper towel and let them cool. And there you go, Voila! Your Gujiyas are ready. Spring or not, taste from home brings back all the warm memories in every bite and makes all the effort worth.
Once Gujiyas cool down, they can be stored in an air tight container for about 10 days or so. But I don't think you will be able to save them for so long!
Happy Holi!!




image courtesy :holikerang.com