“ओल्या नारळाची करंजी” (Stuffed Semi-Circular Sweet Fritters)

Diwali is just a threshold away from today and preparations to celebrate the festival must be in full swing within most of the households.Diwali is not just about eating good food and lights but also surprises,gifts etc.Flowing with the “festive mood” of surprises,we have a pleasant one for the readers of CookWithMoi .A guest blogger!

Our Guest Of Honour

Sheetal Joshi-Kulkarni,my hubby’s cousin from LA (an artist by vocation) but an extremely gifted Cook too.I m so glad that she shall be the guest blogger.Most of her recipes are unique and extremely tasty!  Sheetal ,I sure owe you a big thank-you!

She has been sweet enough to send me “The Making Of Karanji” ,so let’s enjoy & feast over the munchkins in her own words with reference to the book!

Ingredients

• 1/2 muffin-full bowl of semolina
• 1/2 muffin-full bowl of all purpose flour/maida
• milk
• 1/2 portions of whole coconut (frozen shredded shavings of coconut are available in most of the Indian stores, Sheetal used the frozen version)
• 1 tsp cardamom (Sheetal is allergic to cardamom,so she did not use it.But,you guys can definitely add it for flavour & fragrance)
• 2 tbsp of pure ghee
• 1 muffin-full bowl of sugar (the quantity may differ with type of sugar,the proportion shall be the same)
• 1/2 tsp rice flour (But I did not add it,since its not mandatory)
• pure ghee/Vanaspati ghee/vegetable oil for frying.I used vegetable oil for frying (diet conscious you see :P)

One Important Tip from Sheetal

When you have to make Karanjis in a jiffy,Wanton Wraps (available @ most American & Indian Stores) could prove a quick way to make outer shell for the “Karanjis” and relieve you from the pains of making the outer crust.

Origami With Home-made Wraps

I kneaded the semolina & maida with milk (water may be used as well) such that it has a harder consistency.This dough is for the outer crust.After an hour,I hammered it with the pestle ( बत्ता) and made small balls of it.

 

 

For the fillet,I cooked coconut & sugar together and made a soft mixture of it.This is called as “Saran”/stuffing (सारण).Just before the stuffing is about to completely cook ,I added the ghee (rice flour if desired could be added too).If one wants to add cardamom or nutmeg,this is the time to do so.Many prefer to add some “gulkand” (sweetened rose petals used for fragrance) and khoya/khava (solidified condensed milk) into the filling.If you wish to add any of these then for half muffin-full bowl portion of gulkand/khava a minimum of 1/4 muffin-full bowl of sugar should be added.

I rolled the dough balls (made for outer crust) into small,flat puris(circular shaped).Then,I took the puri in my hand and put the filling on half side of the puri.Once that was done,I covered the stuffed side of the puri with the other half of the puri (flap like) and closed it by pressing with fingers on sides.

 

 

Traditionally,the sealed edges are made zig-zag with a wheel-spoon headed aid (काताणे).Its difficult to get it here,so one could use a pizza cutter for sharp circle edges (like I did).However,its not mandatory!

I put the vegetable oil in a deep kadhai (saucepan) over medium high flame.Fry the fritter until pink-golden.Serve them as fresh snacks!

Wow…just looking at those pictures CookWithMoi is already hungry!Wish I was personally there in LA to relish the awesome looking Karanjis!

One quick idea: Instead of the sweet stuffing,try adding any vegetable with spices and make the outer shell with just all purpose flour (add salt,cumin seeds to taste in it while kneading,knead with water and hot oil),then fry them in vegetable oil.Spicy Karanjis  are equally yummy!

Sheetal you are going to be envied by all the readers of Cookwithmoi including Moi!

Once again,Thanks a tonne Sheetal for the appetizing Diwali Dhamaka Recipe:)