‘Karjikai’ is a deep-fried snack prepared with all-purpose flour and sweet filling. There are similar delicacies across India which go by different names and different fillings. For example, ‘Gujiya’, as it is known in Northern India has Khoya filling, ‘Karanji’ in Gujrat and Maharashtra with dessicated coconut and sugar filling, ‘Nevri’ in Goa with desiccated coconut and jaggery filling and ‘Karjikai’ in Karnataka with desiccated coconut and powdered sugar filling.
This particular sweet is usually prepared during festivities and celebrations, especially during ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ and ‘Deepavali’.
‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ is one of the very important festivals in India. This festival is celebrated across India in different ways. In Bangalore, people celebrate ‘Gowri-Ganesha’ festival by keeping the idols of both Gowri and Ganesha, decorating and worshiping with fruits and flowers, and sweets as offerings. Back in coastal Karnataka, ‘Samoohika Ganeshotsava’ is largely observed, where people form groups and celebrate together by establishing Ganesha Idol in a public place and worshiping together. In Maharashtra, it is the festival of the masses where not just Hindus, but people of all religions come together and celebrate this festival.
In today’s post, i shall be sharing a simple, easy , yet delicious recipe of ‘Karijikai’ or ‘Karanji’ with minimum ingredients and simple steps.
This Ganesh Chaturthi, let’s celebrate the VeggiePotNPan way with ‘Karjikai’. Wish you all a very happy ‘Gowri-Ganesha’ festival.
Total Time :45 minutes
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 12
Ingredients:
Maida Flour: 1 cup
Semolina / Rava (Small size): ¼ cup
Oil: For frying
Ghee: 1/4 cup
Milk: ¼ cup
For Filling:
Desiccated coconut: 1 cup
Sugar: ¾ cup
Cardamom / Elachi : 7 to 8
Poppy seeds / Khus Khus: 2 tbsp.
Raisins: Few
Cashews: Few
Method :
- Mix all purpose flour and semolina together in a large bowl. Add hot ghee and mix well. Add milk as required while kneading. Knead the ingredients to form a soft dough
- Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for about 20 minutes
- Meanwhile, in a small pan, heat little ghee and fry poppy seeds in it. While the poppy seeds are still being fried, add raisins and cashews and continue frying till you can smell the aroma of the poppy seeds being roasted / fried in ghee. Remove from heat
- In another bowl, mix the desiccated coconut and powdered sugar, fried poppy seeds and dry fruits and powdered cardamom. Keep aside
- Remove the damp cloth from the dough and knead it again. Take a small portion of the dough and make a ball out of it
- Roll the dough ball to a thin sheet / poori
- Place this over the Karjikai mould. Brush the edges with some milk
- Add about a spoonful of filling in it and close the edges. It is very important to lock the edges of the Karjikai so that filling doesn’t spill out while frying
- In a deep bottomed pan, heat little oil and dip the karjikai into it and fry in medium flame till it turns golden brown. Remove excess oil and transfer it to a container lined with tissue
- Consume it freshly or store it up to 1 or 2 weeks and relish !!!
Note :
- Milk is smeared over the edges to ensure that the sweet filling is completely locked inside the dough and they dont spill out while deep frying
- Fry Karjikai in medium or low flame to get the Karjikai or desirable texture and taste
Karjikai Stories :
As soon as I say ‘Karjikai’, I am reminded of the one that my mom-in-law prepares. This particular recipe is hers with of course, small customisation from my side. She is a ‘pro’ when it comes to certain dishes and ‘Karjikai’ is one among them. During the initial days of my marriage, we used to have a lot of mom-in-law – daughter-in-law moments when she used to share her life stories, experiences and lot more. Over the years, with work and a kid, this particular time has reduced, but we still take some time for regular chit chats.
Come Deepavali, she used to prepare a box full of Kharjikai and send it to relatives at my father-in-law’s native as they all loved the Kharjikai that she prepared.
She used to do this routinely on a large scale until last year. Now, her poorer health conditions and also the fact that health conscious people of her age group back in native cutting down on the intake, has made her lose interest. I used to help her in making the crescent shaped sweet (she always insisted on doing the mixing, proportions and kneading herself) when she used to prepare and for me it was a celebration in itself back in the kitchen!!! In return, I used to get to taste the first piece, after it was offered to God.
Like my mom, even my mom-in-law used to preserve sweets in different boxes, few of them hidden in secret places, which, only they knew !!! Why all the circus ?!!! With sweet-toothed people at home, these delicacies din’t last more than a day or two if reachable !!! To stretch its availability and restrict our per day intake, I agree, this exercise was a must !!!
Ganesh Chaturthi Stories :
Ganesh Chaturthi reminds me of our days in our apartment where we used to eagerly await this festival every year as this was the time where we got to meet a lot of new occupants, new friends, conduct and participate in lot of activities and competitions, fun, entertainment and most important of all – Prasadam.
I was part of a Youth Association for a couple of years which used to organise the Ganesha festival in our apartment. The excitement would start almost 1 month before the festival, when we would start collecting funds (which by itself was fun as we got to meet lot of different people and convince them for donation), plan for celebrations, decide on the number of days of celebrations, the activities, events, etc etc. During the celebrations, we used to get lot of sweets and savouries as offerings to God from the residents. At times, these items where so much that we would easily skip our dinner back home. The final day, when saying ‘Ganapathi Bappa Moriya’ tears would actually start rolling down the cheeks as it was more than just a festival for us.
Ganesha Festival is such… As the festival begins, you get to hear Ganesha songs and bhajans everywhere,visit pandals and stalls, watch processions and people in colourful dresses wishing each other.
We get to see lot of Ganeshas in a day. As kids, we used to visit lot of pandals and appreciate the different types of Ganesha Idols kept there. But, whatever it was, we always wanted to get back home by dark, as we were wary of sighting the moon that day and being cursed for the rest of the year. Well, there is a story behind this.
According to Hindu Mythology, long ago, on his birthday, when Ganesha was returning back home after having tummy full of sweets, he fell down and the sweets in his hand got scattered. Moon God laughed at him, looking at his plight. Ganesha was annoyed by this and said, “you think you are most handsome and cannot resist laughing when I fell down as I am pot bellied? I curse you that from today onwards, you will not be visible to anyone in the sky’.
On hearing this, the Moon God realized his mistake and immediately apologized to Lord Ganesha, who then said that he cant take back his words, but yes, from now on, there would be a cycle wherein the size of the moon would keep decreasing and one fine day, become so small that no one would be able to see it (Amavasya). From the very next day onward, the size of the moon as it appears, would keep increasing and one fine day, would be seen wholly (Purnima). That is how, the cycle of the moon began. Along with this, there was one more curse. As the Moon God laughed at Lord Ganesha on Chaturthi, that is his birthday, whoever sees the Moon on Ganesh Chaturthi day would be the target of false allegations, for the next one year. The solution for this is to read ‘Syamantakopakhyana’ (Story of Lord Krishna and Syamantaka mani).
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