Coconut empanadas/ Indian Sweet gujiya/ Gujarati ghughra

This recipe is traditional Gujarati Recipe from Gujarat India.  Traditionally with made from Gram and wheat flour. We grow up eating Ghughra stuffed with coconut and nuts stuffing. Simple easy to make and just right for the sweet tooth buds. I gave the title Empanadas since it looks and made in the same way. This recipe calls for the charoli(Charoli are tiny almond-flavoured dried seeds of a bush called Buchanania lanzan, which is cultivated across India, primarily in the northwest. After the hard shell is cracked, the stubby seed within is as soft as a pine nut.) 

You can find charoli in any Indian grocery store. If can not find it then simply use any nuts, pine nuts can be a good substitute. unsweetened coconut also can be find at indian grocery but if not then just use the sweetened and add 2 tablespoons of powder sugar instead. Lets get started with the recipe. 

Ingredients - 

for stuffing:

2 cups - shredded coconut( unsweetened) 

2 tablespoon  - Golden raisins

2 tablespoon- chopped cashews

1/4 cup-  chopped or sliced almonds

1 tablespoon poppy seeds( khus khus)

1/4 cup powder sugar

1/2 teaspoon- crushed cardamom/ cardamom powder 

1 tablespoon- charoli(optional) either use pinenuts

oil to fry

Mix all the ingredianet in a bowl. It should look like this.

For the dough:

2 cup- flour

1/2 cup- ghee(clarified butter)

water

 Mix the ghee in to the flour and give it a good massage until the flour soaks all the ghee. Add water in small amount, keep adding the water until it forms in the dough. It should look like this. add a little ghee to smooth the dough. 

 Cover the dough with the damped towel for 10 minutes.

Roll dough out on a lightly floured board to circles about 3-4 inches in diameter.

Place a spoonful of filling on one side of the circle. Moisten the edges of the circle with a small amount of water and fold the dough over the filling to make a half circle. Press the edges together to seal. if you can fold the edges to make a little design then go ahead and do it. It's fun!

Make one at a time and put those Ghughra( empanadas) in to the bowl covering damped towel. Damped towel would help pastry from drying. Now heat the oil in the fryer or deep pan. Fry those Ghughra until golden. 

This is the final product. I know i should post few more pictuers of showing how to fold and roll the pastries. I'll do that hopefully soon.Hope you guys enjoy this recipe. This can be really good snacks with the tea or coffee or any hot beverages.

Baking Instructions: Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes on lightly greased pan.

        

Please comment if you have any questions. Thanks!

Pani Puri

Pani Puri
Ingredients:

puri(crackers):
1cup semolina
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 tblsp baking soda
1/4 tblsp salt

Method:
Mix semolina, plain flour,baking soda and salt. Knead well to make a semi-stiff dough. Cover it with clean wet cloth for about 10 minutes.
Divide the dough into forty equal portions and roll each portion into circles. Place each circle under damp cloth right after rolling.
Heat oil in a Deep pan. Deep fry these circles, slightly pressing with a slotted spoon, until they puff up and are golden brown.
Place the puffed circles ("puris") on absorbent kitchen tissue. Extra puris should be stored in an air-tight container.

potato stuffing:
4 medium potato
1 small cup of garbanzo beans
salt per taste

method:
boil potato and garbanzo beans.
add salt in potato and mash it well.
now mix mash potato and boiled garbanzo beans.

pani(water for stuffing in crackers):
5 tea cup water
1 1/2 cups Chopped Mint Leaves1 tblsp Garam Masala1/3 cup Red Chili 1 inch Coriander Powder2tblsp lemon juice1 tsp Fennel seeds1 1/2 tsp Cumin SeedsSalt to taste1 tsp black salt
mix all the ingredients and grind it .

method:
mix paste of all spices in 5 cup of water.
put some chopped coriander and chopped mint leaves.

sweet pani(everyone will like it)
3 1/2oz dates
1 1/2oz tamarindmake paste of
1 cup coriander leaves
1 cup mint leaves
1 green chilly
salt per taste.

method:
boil dates and tamarind on low heat for 10 minitues.
mash boiled dates and tamarind well now put it in strainer and take out all the pulp from it.
mix spices paste in the pulp.
if consistency of pulp is thick then you can add half cup of cold water in it.