Gujias With Paneer and Coconut filling

It's been so colourful this week everywhere, not just in India and in our great blogosphere too.  Oh! Yeah, everybody around here is celebrating Holi,  I don't know much about this festival and we don't celebrate it either, but I don't think there is nothing wrong in getting tempted by the sweets which are specially made for Holi. Although being a food blogger is a real pleasure, sometimes I feel like we do have a few disadvantages, like started craving and tempted by the foods which we see in other blogs  or may be it's just me :( 

Anyway, this whole week I have been tempted by these yummy sweets and drinks like gujias and thandai.  I satisfied my craving for thandai by having some store bought Badam milk, so I need some gujias now.   Gujias are a traditional Indian sweet, it has a wrapper made out of flour and filled with khoya , dry fruits and coconut.  We, in South India, particularly in places like Nagercoil, they make a sweet very similar to this, filled with only sweetened coconuts, which is known as Poorians, funny name, huh!
Me and my husband enjoy this sweet with just coconut filling, today I have added some paneer too, which was really yummy! Enjoy making this simple sweet with your favourite filling.

Preparation Time:30 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Makes about 20

Ingredients:
For the pastry cover:
Plain flour- 200 g
Ghee- 1 tbsp ( melted )
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Bicarbonate of soda- a pinch
Water to knead the dough

For the filling:
Paneer- 100 g
Fresh grated coconut- 4 tbsp
Sugar- 50 g
Saffron- few strands soaked in warm milk
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
Almonds and pistachios- 1 tbsp (roughly chopped)

For the paste:( mix it together to make as a paste )
Plain flour- 1 tbsp
Water- 1/2 tbsp

Oil for deep frying.

Method:
Mix the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in bowl.  Add the melted ghee and mix well to incorporate into the dough. Now add enough water and make it into a smooth and pliable dough.  Cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Prepare the filling:

Crumble the paneer and mix it with sugar, coconut and saffron milk.  Start heating this mixture in a stove top in medium heat, keep stirring continuously without sticking to the bottom of the pan.  After sometime you can notice that the mixture has started releasing some liquid.  Keep stirring continuously until the mixture looks dry.  Finally add the cardamom powder and chopped nuts, mix it well.

Prepare the gujias:

Divide the dough into 15 to 20 equal rounds.  Roll out each into a 5 to 6 cm diameter circle.  Place a small amount of filling in the middle.  Apply the paste around the edges, make it into a semi circle and seal the edges.

Heat oil in a kadai, when the oil gets heated.  Reduce the temperature to medium to low, add 2 to 3 gujias at a time and fry it on both sides until it looks golden brown in colour.
Serve it while they are still warm or let it cool down completely and store it in an air tight container.  Since we have added paneer and coconut, it's better to finish it off in a day or two.
 

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Coconut and Lemon Loaf for Daring Baker's February 2012

Daring Baker's was hosted by Lis for February 2012.  Lis challenged us to make quick breads,which I  have to quickly whip up in the last minute as always.  Lis has provided us with different sources to refer for quick breads with different flavours and versions.

Quick breads are made with quickly without kneading,rising and yeast.  Basically quick breads are made with rising agents like baking powder,bicarbonate of soda along with moist texture.  A quick bread can be either sweet or savoury,  you can play with different flavours to make your own version of quick bread.  A quick bread can be in the form of loaves,muffins or popovers.

I have choosed Coconut and lemon loaf for this challenge.   Coconut by itself is a fantastic flavours,  I know it goes well with cardamom.  I love the flavour of lemon and vanilla in any cakes, so today I wanted to try lemon and vanilla along with fresh grated coconut.  I felt the flavour of coconut in every bite, this is a super moist and yummy bread.  Since I made it in the last minute, I couldn't come out with some appealing pictures for this yummy loaf.  If you are a coconut lover, I'm sure you'll enjoy this a lot and will become your favourite once you try it.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
Makes 1 mini loaf

Ingredients:
Plain flour- 100 g
Fresh grated coconut- 75 g
Butter- 75 g ( at room temperature )
Sugar- 75 g
Egg- 1
Lemon juice- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Vanilla essence- 1 tsp
Grated lemon zest- 1/4 tsp
Baking powder- 1 tsp
Bicarbonate of soda- 1/4 tsp
Yogurt- 1/2 tbsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 190 degree Celsius.  Grease and line a mini loaf tin.  Sift together the flour, baking powder  and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl.  Beat together the butter and sugar in a bowl with a electric mixer.  When it looks fluffy add the egg and beat well.  Add the egg and beat again.  Now add the flour mixture, lemon juice, grated lemon zest and vanilla.  Beat all the ingredients to combine well.  Finally add the fresh grated coconut and stir.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake it in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Take it out from the oven, leave it cool in the tin for 5 minutes.  Gently remove from the tin,slice and serve.

Note:
The bread is too soft and moist, so take care while slicing it, so that they don't break.

Linking this recipe to Cakes,Cookies and Desserts.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad