The colorful kites flying high in the sky, women laying beautiful Rangoli/Kolam in the courtyards ,Youth setting up Bhogi mantalu (Bonfire) where useless materials are thrown into fire, Haridasu rounding up homes with his Gangireddu (Bull decorated in colorful clothes),singing songs, This is how Telugu people celebrate Sankranti festival. Also known as Makar Sankranti or Pongal. Not sure you would see all these rituals in big cities, but they do exist in villages.
Apart from the rituals, Indian festivals are celebrated big time by cooking various delicacies. Pongal festival comes in the month of January which is the harvest time for farmers. So many of these delicacies are made with harvested fresh crops. Ariselu (Athirasam), Bobbatlu (Puran poli), Kajjikayalu (Karanji), Sweet Pongal (Chakkera pongali) are few of the famous desserts made during this time.
In my home, my Mom makes Kajjikayalu also known as Garjelu, which looks like hand pies or Empanadas. These stuffed shells are made with flour and there are varioust kinds of sweet stuffing that goes into these shells. We make sesame powder, jiggery filling which is my favorite or Peanut powder and jaggery stuffing. You can also make these with Sooji (Semolina), Fresh Khoya or dry fruits. For sweetness Sugar or Jaggery can be used. We always use Jaggery. This year I have made Peanut powder filling and used jaggery (Bellam/Gur) for sweetness.
The recipe for Kajjikayalu is pretty simple and straight forward. No syrup to make unlike many Indian sweets. And this is my first time making them, LOL! I got the recipe from the best chef I've known for years, my Mom and executed it with out a sweat. Only deviation from her recipe is I used all Maida/flour for the shell where as she uses half wheat flour, half Maida. Because of that The shell will look lil bit darker than Maida shells. Imagining that color in my head, I kind of over fried my Kajjikayalu , just a tad bit, Lol! but no harm done. They were still ok though.Also those dark spots form coz the jaggery inside melts.
If you are looking for easy festive recipes try my quick Kalakand, Quick Doodh peda, Ragi Pappu chekkalu/Thattai recipes. Also I have given links below for more festive recipes.You can type these key words in search box or check my archives for lots of recipes.
One more thing, I baked couple of these sweet babies instead of frying. I loved em more than fried ones. They were crunchy, perfectly cooked with very little oil. Also saves lot of time. I will never fry Kajjikayalu again. Oh! one more thing, when you fry them, fry on medium flame till they turn slightly dark. This is important to achieve perfectly fried shells.
Servings:
Total time:
60 minutes (includes 30 min dough resting time)
Ingredients (I use US standard measuring; 1cup=8oz=250ml):
100 gms Peanuts
100 gms Jaggery (Gur/Bellam)
1 cup un bleached all purpose flour/ Maida or 1/2 cup wheat flour,1/2 cup Maida
2 tbsp oil and oil to deep fry
chopped dry fruits optionally
Kajjikayalu Step wise recipe
- Measure 100gms Peanuts. Roast em on a medium flame till they are darker. Take peanuts in a wide plate and cool em off.
- Measure 100 gms Jaggery. Scrape it with a Knife to a powder. Alternatively you can microwave for 10 sec intervals to make jaggery soft and pound it to make powder.
- Grind Peanuts to a powder. Add Jaggery powder to the blender and pulse couple times to mix everything.
- Take Peanut Jaggery mixture into a bowl. Separate any big pellets with hand. As long as you do not have chunks of jaggery, it should be fine.
- Take 1 cup flour/maida in a bowl. I have used unbleached all purpose flour.Alternatively you can use 1/2 cup wheat flour, 1/2 cup all purpose flour/maida.
- Add 2 tbsp. oil and enough water to make a dough, lil soft but not very soft. Rest the dough for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes dough turns smoother.
- After 30 minutes make small balls out of the dough.
- Roll a ball into a thin circle. Now place rolled Puri on Kajjikayalu mold.
- Fill it with about 2 tbsp. powder or adjust according to the size of the mold. Close the mold and press. Open and remove stuffed shell out.
- If you do not have a mold, Roll a ball into thin Puri, place filling in the center. Close Puri making a semi circle shape. Press the edges to seal. Now use a small fork to make the design. Your Kajjikaya is ready to fry.
- Make 3-4 stuffed Puris and keep em ready to fry. Meanwhile keep the dough covered.
Deep fry version:
- Heat oil in a Kadai to fry Kajjikayalu.
- Now keep the flame on medium, add Kajjikayalu one by one.
- Fry both sides, till they turn slightly darker.
- Remove them and place on a paper towel to drain excess oil. Repeat till all Kajjikayalu are fried.
- Once they come to room temperature, store in a airtight container.
Baked version:
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- Brush stuffed Kajjikayalu with oil on both sides.
- Bake them for 20 minutes or till they turn slightly darker. After 10 minutes, turn over Kajjikayalu and bake for remaining time. Keep in mind that Oven temperatures vary from one to another.
Tips:
- You can add chopped dry fruits to the filling.
- Pulagam and Vankaya bajji (Sesame rice and Eggplant curry)-Sankranti must haves of my home
- Navratri festive recipes -A link to many festive delicacies
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