Made all over India as a festival sweet, Gujias or Nuereos differ only slightly from region to region. In some states, like Uttar Pradesh, the filling is made with sweetened khoya (milk thickened almost to a solid state) and nuts while in others like Goa, it consists of shredded coconut, nuts and jaggery. This version uses the coconut filling.
Ingredients:
- 500 gms all-purpose flour
- 6-7 tbsps of ghee (do not melt the ghee)
- Water
- 1 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
- 1/2 cup cashew nuts chopped fine
- 1/2 cup small raisins chopped fine
- 1/2 cup almonds cut into very thin slivers
- 1/2 kg sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- Vegetable/sunflower/canola oil or ghee for deep frying
Preparation:
- In a flat dish, mix the flour and ghee to form a crumbly mix that just about holds together.
- Add water a little at a time and knead to form a firm dough. When done, cover the dough with a damp tea towel or muslin and keep it aside.
- Roast the coconut on a very low flame till it is a pale reddish color. Keep aside.
- Mix the sugar and water in a pan and cook till the sugar is fully melted. Now allow to thicken a little.
- Add the coconut, raisins, cashews, almonds and cardamom powder and mix well. Remove from fire and keep aside to cool.
- Divide the prepared dough into equal sized-portions and make them into balls.
- Roll these balls out into circles about 4-5" wide.
- Put a heaped tablespoon of filling in the centre of each circle and fold over into a semi-circle. Pleat the edges to seal and keep aside. Repeat the filling process for all the circles.
- Once all your dough and filling is used up, heat oil on a medium flame and deep fry the gujias.
- Drain them on paper towels and store in an air-tight container.
