Description
You can call Gujiya a sweet Indian twin brother of empanadas. A flaky and slightly salty flattened dough wrapped around a sweet filling and then deep fried. Traditionally the filling is either made of mava/khoya (a milk derivative made by reducing the milk to a thick paste or even a dry form). Inspired by sweet empanadas and pies, I gave the traditional gujiya my own twist and made a sweet, fruity and peachy one!
Ingredients
- FOR THE DOUGH:
- 2 cups All-purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
- 8 Tablespoons Ghee (softened Butter If No Ghee)
- 2 cups, 1 tablespoon, 2 teaspoons, 7-⅛ pinches Oil, For Frying
- FOR THE FILLING:
- 2-½ cups Diced Ripe Peaches
- ½ cups Grated Coconut
- ¼ cups Sugar
- ¾ teaspoons Crushed Black Pepper
- ½ teaspoons Crushed Cardamom Seeds
- 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
Preparation
For the dough, mix flour, baking soda and ghee together. For the ghee to mix well with the flour, I take a little flour in hand and rub it between my palms. If you hold flour in your fist and, on opening the fist, it holds itself in a ball and doesn’t crumble away, then you know the proportion of ghee and flour is right and it is mixed well.
Now, while sprinkling a little water, try to knead the flour to form a stiff dough. You should not be able to penetrate the dough very easily when poking with a finger. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside.
For the filling, mix all the remaining ingredients together. Set aside.
Divide the dough into equal parts and make balls. Dust your working station and roll each ball into circle (if the circles are not “circular” enough then just use a small plate or cup as a cutter).
Put a tablespoon of filling on one half of the circle. Run a finger dipped in water around the edges. Fold the other half over it so the edges meet, forming a half moon.
My life was a little easier because my mom got me these gujiya fillers and cutters from India. But you can use a fork to press the edges and stick them together, forming tiny lines all around the edges, just like you do for empanada.
Repeat the same for the rest of the dough and filling. Cover it with a damp cloth.
Heat oil/ghee for deep frying and fry gujiya until it is golden brown on the outside.
I poked a hole on one side of the gujiya as soon as it came out of the deep fryer. I think it helped release the steam from inside of the gujiya without letting the juicy liquid seep out of it. (I could be wrong, too.) You can either serve it hot or when it’s cool enough to not burn your tongue!
