Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Karanji with Coconut Filling (Sweet Indian Empanadas)

Today I am sharing a very simple and easy method of making Karanji which is like a sweet empanada. It is made with a delicious sweet coconut filling. This sweet is also traditionally made for Diwali Faral (feast) in Maharashtra. This is yet another one of our family favorites.

Ingredients:
For the cover: take 1.5 cups wheat flour or maida/all purpose flour (your choice), 1/2 cup fine rava/sooji/cream of wheat, 2 tsp hot oil, pinch of salt.

For the filling: 2 cups shredded coconut, 1&1/2 cups sugar (adjust according to sweetness of sugar), 2 tsp rice flour, 1 tsp crushed cardamom, 1/4 tsp saffron (optional) or few drops of rose essence (optional).

Method:
Add a pinch of salt to the flour and then pour hot oil (2 tsp) over it and knead the dough with water and keep it under wet cloth for 1 hr. You have to keep kneading it after every 20 mins to make it soft.

In a thick bottom pan, mix the shredded coconut and sugar and cook it till the coconut is soft. Then add the rice flour to it and cook for 3-4 mins. Turn off the heat and add the crushed cardamom and saffron or rose essence. Let it cool.

Then make lemon size balls of the dough and roll out little discs. Put about 3 tsp filling and fold it over to make a cresent shape and cut off the edges with a karanji cutter (pinwheel cutter) or you can seal them with maida paste (add some water to maida or all purpose flour and make semi thick paste), if you want.

Deep fry them in hot oil. Cool and refrigerate for extended shelf life. Personally I like to add rose essence to the filling. It gives it a very distinct and interesting flavor.

28 comments:

Chitra said...

lovely crispy snack...

divya said...

Delicious and tempting recipe...

Shalmali said...

Looking absolutely lovely..:)

Reshmi Mahesh said...

Crispy yummy snack...

Hari Chandana P said...

Lovely recipe.. looks tempting !
Indian Cuisine

Tina said...

Crispy sweet snack...

vandana rajesh said...

crispy and delicious..one of my favourites.

Raji said...

Karanji's look tempting...nice recipe.

Ambreen (Simply Sweet n Savory) said...

oh, that looks awesome! Delicious!

Santosh Bangar said...

lovely remind me our old days on holi we made it

Priya Suresh said...

Super crispy karanjis,love it..

Love and other Spices said...

looks delicious!!

Archana said...

Tempting snack


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Sravs said...

so crispy and super delicious sweet !!

Ongoing Event - Festive Food

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

my grandma makes this for diwali. nicely done and i love the filling

R said...

chitra, divya, shalmali, reshmi mahesh, hari chandana, tina, vandana rajesh, raji, ambreen, santosh bangar, priya, farwin@cookingitsimple, archana, sravs, jeyashrisuresh: thank u all for taking the time to stop by and appreciate!

Kurryleaves said...

looks soo delicious....

Pushpa said...

Delicious!! Delicious!!

Prathima Rao said...

These look good..Love the filling..:)
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner

Panchamrutham said...

love to have this snack anytime

http://www.panchamrutham.blogspot.com/

Vineetha Sush said...

Thanks for visiting my space ..first time here..Will follow u for more.

Unknown said...

wow, they look good. That is lot of work though. I love karanji too :)

Urmi said...

Perfectly prepared. Karanji looks crispy, yummy and tempting.

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow....tempting and crunchy ones....

Uma said...

looks absolutely delicious and tempting.

Trendy Relish

Sanctified Spaces said...

Must have tasted great. Happy Diwali to you and your family.

Laavanya said...

What a tasty sweet that must make... nice!

R said...

kurryleaves, pushpa, prathima rao, panchamrutham, vineetha, Priya YM, Babli, Kitchen Flavors, Uma, Sanctified spaces, Laavanya: thanks for your appreciation!