Diwali has here and this beautiful Festival of Lights brings with it age-old traditions, family bonding and delicious food. Every year in Diwali my kitchen is full of traditional Indian Diwali sweets and snacks handmade by my grandmother. She’s 87 and still has the same gusto in cooking as if she was 25! I’ve grown up watching her cook and this was the foundation of my passion for cooking and food. She was a big inspiration for me to start Thecrazyindianfoodie and she still helps me curate and shoot recipes.
Traditional Diwali Sweets and Snacks at home.
Ghughra/Karanji is a recipe we make every Diwali and it never fails to impress. Handcrafted dough balls stuffed with khoya, dry fruits and sugar, fried to a crisp golden brown makes for a delicious festive sweet. This is my great grandmother’s recipe passed down through 100 years. This is a simple Diwali sweet recipe that you can make at home. Perfect festive recipe.
Homemade Gughra/Karanji – Diwali Sweet Recipe.
Gughra Recipe, Karanji Recipe, Traditional Indian Diwali Sweet Recipe :
Makes: Approx. 100 pieces. (Use half of the measurements of you need to make 50).
Time: Prep (1 hour), Making: (1 hour).
Ingredients:
For the dough:
- Maida (500gms).
- Desi Ghee (500ml) for frying.
- Desi Ghee 5 tbsp for making dough.
- Water as needed.
For the stuffing:
- Mawa/Khoya: 500gms.
- Crushed Almonds: 100gms.
- Crushed Cashews: 100 gms.
- Crushed Pista: 100 Gms.
- Cardamom/Elaichi powder : 25 gms.
- Castor sugar/ground sugar: 300gms.
Method/How to make Gughra/Gujia at home/Karanji at Home :
1. Take the Maida, 5 tbsp ghee and water and knead a medium consistency dough. Knead properly for 15-20 mins. Cover with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside for 1 hour.
2. In the meanwhile, in a thick bottomed pan add 1 tsp ghee and the mava/khoya (without sugar). Cook for 5-7 mins until the ghee separates from the khoya.
Khoya/Mava (Fresh and Unsweetened).
Mava/Khoya cooked in ghee.
3. Turn off the flame. Add the crushed almonds, cashews and pistachios and mix. Add the crushed sugar and mix. Now add the elaichi powder and mix. Our stuffing for karanji is ready.
Mixing the khoya with dry fruits, sugar and elaichi.
Karanji/Ghughra stuffing.
4. After an hours rest, knead the dough again and make small equal sized balls of the dough. Roll into small puris.
Make Small Puris.
5. In each puri take about 1 tbsp of our stuffing. Seal edges and use your hands or a fork. Make sure there are no holes or it can leak and spoil the whole ghee. (If it does, you need to strain the ghee before frying again).
Stuff mixture into puris and seal!
Stuff and seal edge properly. You can use a mould/fork too.
6. Once you have at least 10-15 Ghughara’s ready, cover with a wet muslin cloth to prevent drying.
All set for the frying pan!
7. In a thick pan heat 500ml ghee. Once it’s hot fry ghughras slowly, on a medium flame until golden brown.
Fry Ghughras until golden brown!
8. Serve the ghughras fresh and warm! You can store these for a week in a jar on room temperature.
Homemade Gughra/Karanji – Diwali Sweet Recipe.
See? It’s so easy to make Diwali sweets at home! Go try this easy Indian Diwali sweet recipe at home.
Do try this recipe at home! Find more Diwali special recipes on Instagram: Thecrazyindianfoodie. Check out the video here.
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