Karanji recipe is a must-have during festive occasions. It is a delicacy made during celebrations and festivals like Diwali. During Diwali, most Indian households are busy preparing sweet and savory snacks in full swing. I usually resorted to buying sweets from stores (you do get a good variety here in the US) all these years due to the lack of time, and busy life. Being on a break this time, I had to make the 'Karanji' or 'karchikai' or 'gujiya' (it goes by various names) usually made during festivals.
What is the Karanji Diwali Sweet made of?
This deep-fried delicacy has a covering made of all-purpose flour and the filling is a mixture of roasted desiccated coconut, dry nuts, raisins, white sesame seeds, and sugar. The crisp outer covering with the lightly sweetened taste of all the goodness inside tastes heavenly and out of the world. Although it looks a bit tedious to make, it is worth all the effort and is loved by kids and adults alike!
Ingredients needed
To make the outer covering you will need:
- All-purpose Flour and semolina - This needs to be kneaded with milk, salt, and ghee into a smooth dough
For the inner stuffing, you will need the following:
- Desiccated coconut, nuts like almonds, pistachios, cashews and raisins
- Sugar, cardamom, white sesame seeds
Variations in making Karanji
Some prefer to use jaggery or brown sugar instead of white sugar for the filling and it is one's preference. Also, instead of using all-purpose flour alone a combination of wheat and all-purpose flour in the ratio 1:1 is sometimes preferred. Another variation in the dough preparation is to replace ghee and milk with oil and water respectively.
You may also love some other similar fried stuffing recipes like Fried Modak and Mawa Gujiya
Karanji Diwali Sweet Delicacy
Ingredients
For outer covering
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp semolina
- 2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter) warmed up
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup milk to knead
For Filling
- 1 cup coconut dessicated
- 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
- 10 nuts almonds , cashew, pista, raisins
- 3-4 tsp sugar or as desired
- 4-5 cardamoms
- 2 tsp white sesame seeds
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients for the outer covering in a bowl .
- Knead the ingredients with portions of milk so that you get a stiff dough.
- In a pan , heat 2 tsp ghee and fry the coconut till slightly browned.
- Keep it aside and let it cool.
- Next heat up the sesame seeds in the ghee till it crackles.
- Powder the nuts, raisins ,sugar and cardamom.
- Mix the coconut, sesame and powdered dry nuts
- Take a small ball of the dough and roll into small circles.
- Add a spoon of the filling and seal with your finger by pinching the edges
- .You can also add a drop of milk so that it is sealed well.
- Heat a pan of oil and deep fry the karanjis until they are golden brown.
- Karanjis are now ready to be served . Enjoy!
Nutrition
These look delicious, and I hope you have a wonderful Diwali celebration!
This recipe turned out so delicious! The sweet, flaky texture was perfect. Definitely a new favorite for festive occasions.
This was the first time making Karanji Diwali Sweet! And my family loved this!
This worked exactly as written, thanks!