Karjikai / Karanji

Karjikai is a traditional sweet prepared for Diwali. This is a mild sweet and I bet most of you will like it. Karjikai, is a savory with coconut filling and sugar. The crust is crispy whereas the filling is mildly sweet and melts into the mouth. I remember my childhood days when my mom used to prepare Karjikai, Shankarpali, Chakkli, varieties of laddus in big batches for Deepavali. We used to help her cut the Karjikai with a karjikai cutter. Now as I don’t have that cutter I have just made some impression by using a fork. Sharing my mom’s recipe with a little twist by adding dry fruits to this dish, hope you all would like to try making it, dear friends.
Prep Time	30 Minutes
Cooking Time	35 Minutes
Serves	15-16 Pieces
Ingredients	Maida / All Purpose Flour Chiroti Rava / Fine Semolina Ghee Milk Salt Oil	1 Cup ¼ Cup 1 Tbsp. ½ Cup A Pinch To deep fry
To Make the filling	Kopra /Dry Desiccated Coconut Putani Powder / Roasted Gram Dal Powder Sugar Poppy Seeds Finely Chopped Dry Fruits Cardamom Powder	¾ Cup 1 Tbsp. ¾ Cup 1Tbsp 2 Tbsp. ¼ Tsp
Method 1.   In a bowl take all-purpose flour, semolina, ghee and salt together and mix well. Rub all the mixture well. Now by adding warm milk slowly, knead the dough to a medium consistency( something like a poori dough). 2.   Set it aside for at least ½ hour. 3.   Meanwhile start preparing for the filling. Dry roast desiccated coconut, poppy seeds separately until you get a nice aroma. 4.   Mix the roasted ingredients with sugar, cardamom powder, roasted gram powder, finely chopped dry fruits (almonds, pistachio ) and set it ready. 5.   Heat oil for deep frying. 6.   Divide the dough to small ball and roll it out into a circle like poori, divide the poori into half, spoon in a tablespoon of the filling on one side, and carefully fold the other half, closing the poori-shaped dough completely. Also wet the edges slightly with water/ milk and seal well. Follow the same for the other dough balls too. 7.   Deep-fry all the prepared karajikai’s in hot oil, turning them continuously till they turn golden brown. 8.   Store them in an air tight container.