I wish you all with all my heart that this year holi may bring lots of happiness and add more colors to your life.
It is a celebration of the victory over evil and the arrival of spring. And We usually make poornam polelu(puran poli) for holi and offer it to the lord along with sugar drop garland which is a ritual in our region, as I cannot get the sugar drops garland here in USA made one with dry fruits and beads. After offering it to the lord, the same garland is put on the little kiddo’s at home for their health and well being. It’s an ancient tradition still followed in Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka areas.
Also made some garijelu(gujiya) for the first time and hand moulded it, made some flowers and twigs with the remaining dough(want to showcase the spring vibes on gujiya) and also I tried make it little healthy after seeing many baked gujiya’s and baked them. Thanks to my dear friend Madhu @kitchenmai for the recipe, it really helped me and for the stuffing I have used desiccated coconut, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, charoli seeds, dates, dried figs, dried apricots, almonds, pistachios, crushed fennel seeds and palm suagr. Let me tell you guys what I used and the process of making it.
INGREDIENTS
Whole wheat flour 2 cups
Desiccated coconut powder 1 cup
Dried cranberries 1/4 cup
Pumpkin seeds 2 tbsp
Charoli seeds 2 tbsp
Dates 1/2 cup
Dried figs 1/2 cup
Dried apricots 1/2 cup
Almonds 1/2 cup
Pistachios 1/4 cup
Crushed fennel seeds 2 tsp
Palm sugar 1 tbsp
Salt a pinch
Sugar 2 tbsp
Water to knead
Saffron threads 8-10
Ghee 2 tbsp
PROCEDURE
- Take a mixing bowl add the whole wheat flour, salt, 1 tsp of crushed fennel seeds, 1 tsp of sugar, saffron threads, ghee and slowly add water to form a semi stiff dough.
- Cover the dough and let it rest for sometime till we prepare the stuffing.
- Preheat the oven at 180°C/356°F.
- Chop the dates, dried figs, dried cranberries, dried apricots roughly and keep aside.
- In a blender pulse the pistchios, almonds coarsely.
- Now in a bowl add the desiccated coconut powder, chopped dates, chopped dried figs, chopped dried apricots, crushed fennel seeds, Palm sugar, Charoli seeds, pumpkin seeds, pulsed almonds and pistchios and mix everything together.
- Now take a lemon size ball of kneaded dough and roll it little bit thicker than the roti consistency.
- Now if you’re using a gujiya mould than place the rolled out dough on to the mould, slightly bend it and fill it with 2-3 tbsps of prepared stuffing.
- Slowly close the mould and press it firmly and remove the excess dough off the mould and transfer the moulded gujiya to the baking tray.
- If you’re moulding by hands then roll out the dough and place it on to your palm and slowly bend it to make a cavity and then place the filling, apply some water at the ends and slowly seal the edges and drag and pinch and close the edges to seal tightly and also to make a intricate pattern.
- Repeat the moulding process to the remaining dough and place them on a baking tray.
- Now slowly place the baking tray to the preheated oven at 180°C/356°F and bake for 25-30 min.
- Now make a light sugar syrup by adding a 4 tbsp of sugar to 1/2 cup water and reduce it by 30% and once the gujiya’s are baked brush them with this syrup and devour it wholeheartedly 💗
