Karanji/Kajjikayalu/Karchikai/Sweet Somas

Today is the 4th week of blogging marathon#23 and I will be blogging under the traditional dishes.
Karanji is a sweet which is popular in Maharastra whereas it is named as sweet somas or karchikai in TamilNadu and Kajjikayalu in Andhra.The shape of making the sweet is same and varoius kinds of stuffing is used in each part of the state.
Coming to today's recipe,it  is a simple and easy to make stuffing with the basic ingredients and the stuffing can be made in advance.
This sweet is one of my child hood favorite and my paternal grandmother is an expert in making this sweet.Whenever she used to visit us she brought this sweet and used a special gadget called somas karandi(spoon) to trim the edges.As I don't have that one, used the pizza cutter to trim the edge and pressed with the fork to get the decorative edge.Here is the recipe................

Ingredients
For the outer covering

Ingredient	Quantity
All purpose flour/Maida	1cup
Semolina/rava	11/2tbs
Ghee	2tbs
Salt	1/8tsp
Oil	for frying

For the Stuffing

Ingredient	Quantity
Roasted gram dhal/pottukadalai	3/4cup
Coconut(grated)	1/2cup
Sugar	1cup
Cardamom/ellakai	3nos.
Roasted semolina	1tbs(optional)
Finely powdered cashews	1tbs(optional)

Method

             Mix the semolina,maida and ghee together,add water little by little and make a firm dough.Keep it aside for 2 hours.

Powder the roasted gram dhal and sugar+cardamom separately and put it in a bowl.Now heat a pan, dry roast the coconut till aromas comes and  golden.Add it to the gram dhal and sugar mixture,mix it well.The stuffing is ready.

Divide the dough into a gooseberry size balls and roll into a thin poori.Keep 2tsp of stuffing in it and apply water on the edges.Fold and seal the edges.

Now trim the edge with the pizza cutter or somas spoon and with the fork gently press and decorate the edge,keep it on plate covered with a cloth to prevent drying.Continue for rest of the dough.
Fry 3-4 pieces in the oil for one batch in a medium heat till it becomes crisp and golden color.Remove it and drain it on a paper towel.

E

After cooling store it in an air tight container.

Enjoy.....................................

• Somas stay fresh and crisp for a week if it is stored in an air tight container.
• Fry it in a medium flame to get a crispy and golden colored somas.
• Adding the roasted rava and ground cashews is purely optional but gives a rich taste. 
• While pressing with the fork make sure on to press on the top layer otherwise the stuffing will come out.

Check out my fellow bloggers participating in Blogging Marathon#23.