Karjikai | Karanji | Karigadubu

Karjikai | Karigadubu | Karanji  – A Karnataka Delicacy prepared during the festive season. Deep fried pastry filled with the sweet filling!

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”  ― Victor Hugo

I second that! Without music, life would be a mistake. Have you ever felt that a sudden song coming through the radio waves soothes you and reflects your mind? I experienced it often and felt how come the people at radio station knew what do I need. Music has been an integral part of my life and it is even now. Appa is an ardent fan of TMS songs. When tape recorder was introduced, it was considered as a costly affair and very few owned it. Dad and his brothers being lovers of music, they owned a Philips radio with speakers. Appa and his brothers treasured every audio cassette they had. They were boxes of audio cassettes and grandma used to scold them as they occupied places. My uncles used to buy the cassette as soon as it is available in the market. Though the technology is advanced and we enjoy music in our mobile phones, I still love the old cassettes – rectangular shaped with audio tapes wound around two circles. I used to steal cassettes from the box and play it when appa was not at home. If you rewind or forward it often, it might get stuck and we used to roll the tapes using a ballpoint pen.

There were days when I recorded my own voice in the tape and played it a number of times. My neighbors used to borrow cassettes from appa and he used to complain that they never returned. Even if they return, it would have spoiled. Amma used to blame appa for not owning even a single devotional audio cassette amidst such filmy song ones. Even now, appa needs a tape recorder or channel which continuously plays old songs, old in the sense – black and white ones composed by MSV. When we would be occupied with household chores or fist fights, appa would never mind anything happening around and would happily enjoy listening songs. He often says that it relaxes him after a long tiring day. Yes, his job was a tiring one and he used to leave home at midnight if someone call him complaining power cut in their area. He initially worked in distribution wing of electricity board and later, he moved to thermal power plants. At times, he travels to nearby villages for inspection and leaves at midnight to fix a repaired transformer. I strongly believe I inherited the sense of music from appa. Not only me, even my brothers too. I always wanted to own a tape recorder or walkman when I was in college. After a long fight, dad agreed to get me one. And rest of my college days passed away in its company. I studied while listening songs and slept by listening songs. I do love to share my favorite ones but then it would go like a mega serial. What does music mean to you?

Well, today’s recipe is an authentic and comforting one like a good music, good wine, and a good book. Yes, a Karnataka delicacy.

Karijikai/Karigadubu/Karanji is a deep fried pastry filled with sweet filling. If you are wondering as what Gujiya is, well, it is similar to Karanji and referred as Gujiya in northern parts of India while it is called karanji in the southern part of India. Karjikai is deep fried crescent shaped pastry sheets prepared with all purpose flour/wheat and filled with sweet stuffing prepared using jaggery, dal, and coconut. The filling can be prepared according to your culinary imagination and gastronomical preferences. They are prepared during the festive time as an offering to God and later distributed to neighbors.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup All Purpose Flour/Wheat flour
• ¼ Cup fine Semolina/Rava
• 3 Tablespoon Rice flour
• 2 tablespoon Ghee
• Water for the dough
• Oil to Fry
• Stuffing:

   

  • ½ Cup Roasted Channa Dal/ Pottukadalai
  • ¼ Cup Grated Coconut
  • ½ cup Grated Jaggery
  • ½ teaspoon Cardamom Powder

Method:

• In a small pan, heat ghee. In a bowl, add all purpose flour, rava, and rice flour. Combine them together. Add the heated Ghee to the flour mixture. The ghee should be really hot such that once added to the flour, they bubble up. 
• Combine them together with hand. The mixture resembles bread crumbs. The ghee should be added hot to the flour for the crispy flaky outer layer
• Add water and knead the dough. Ensure the dough is not too soft.
• Cover the kneaded dough with a damp cloth until we fry them. This prevents the dough from losing its moisture and avoid cracks while frying.
• Let’s prepare the filling now. In a mixer, add roasted channa dal and coconut. Grind them into a coarse powder. Add grated jaggery to the mixture and combine them well.
• Let’s prepare karjikai now. Take a lemon sized dough and make a small ball out of it. 
• Roll them into a small circle of 2mm thickness. Ensure to cover the remaining dough with a damp cloth.
• Now, you can shape Karjikai with molds if you have. Else, cut the rolled dough into circles using a cookie cutter or with a simple jar lid.
• Place a spoon of stuffing on one side of the rolled dough. Brush the edges of the circle with water.
• Fold the pastry to form a semicircle. Ensure the edges are sealed completely and there is no gap left
• Now, mark the edges with a fork to give them shapes and stick them together. Else, you can just fold the edges a bit to seal them together.
• Cover the filled pastries with a damp cloth.
• Repeat the same procedure for all the balls.
• Heat oil in a kadai. Once the oil is hot, drop a small ball of flour into the oil. If the flour raises up steadily, then the oil is perfect for frying Karijikais.
• Fry karjikai one by one in a medium heat until they turn golden in color. Flip the karjikai through the half way.
• Serve warmly or allow them to cool down completely to store them in an airtight container
  
  
  
  

  Food Advertising by

  

 If you are looking for other Sweet recipes, then do check out other recipes here – Appe Payasa, Utthatthi Payasa, Kandrappam, Poha Sheera, Vermicelli kheer

If you try the recipe, do let me know how they tasted in comments. If you like space, do like and follow my profile at here – Facebook, Google

Yours Truly,

Karthi