Lorna’s Karanji Recipe

Lorna’s Karanji Recipe makes for a crisp and flaky stuffed half moon-shaped pastry that’s ideal for festivals like Diwali, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Indian 40 Mins 40 Mins Medium Serves 8

Ingredients

For the dough:

175g plain flour
A pinch of salt
80ml water
2 tbsp melted ghee or butter
Extra flour for rolling
3 tbsp flour + 1 to 2 tablespoons water (“glue” to seal the Karanji pastry)
Oil for frying

For the filling

80g jaggery or brown sugar
1 tbsp ghee
1 tsp ground cardamom powder
50g cashews, finely chopped
50g almonds, finely chopped
2 tbsp raisins
2 tsp sesame seeds

Method

Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a pan and add the coconut, jaggery, cardamom, almond and cashews. Fry for approximately 8 minutes.
Next add the raisins and sesame seeds, mix and fry for 2 minutes. Let the mixture cool whilst you make dough.
In a large bowl, add the flour, ghee and salt and mix till it resembles bread crumb texture. Mix in the water a little at a time to form a smooth dough. Knead for a minute, leave aside to rest for 15 minutes.
Now divide the dough into 2 parts, shape each dough into a log and cut into equal portions.
Roll each piece into a smooth ball, flatten between your palms, dust with some flour and, using a rolling pin, roll into a circular disc approximately 10cm in diameter.
Add a tablespoon of the stuffing to the half closer to you. Brush the edges with “glue” and fold over the upper half sealing the karanji to form a semi circle. Press lightly, seal well, and use your fingertips to pinch the edge over onto itself.
Place the karanji on a plate and cover with a damp cloth while you make the remaining.
Heat oil in a pan over a medium heat. Fry 3 to 4 karanjis at a time, turning them while frying until they are golden brown. They will slightly puff up and have a crisp coating.
Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm while you fry the remaining. You can serve them warm or keep in the refrigerator.

Recipe notes

Karanji is a crisp, flaky, fried, half moon-shaped pastry stuffed with a sweet filling of desiccated coconut, dried nuts and fruits, and delightful seasonings.

This sweet snack from the Maharashtrian cuisine is often made for festivals, but they’re so delicious you’ll want to eat them all year long.

Tips:

If you have desiccated coconut with long shreds, grind or powder them to a finer texture using a spice-grinder or a mixer-grinder combo.
Fry the karanji in small batches of 3 to 4. Too many, and the cooking temperature of the oil will drop, making it difficult to get them to be crispy.
You can store the cooled karanji in an airtight container and keep them in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Vegan alternatives

This recipe is vegetarian but not vegan as it contains ghee (clarified butter), which is an animal-derived product. It also includes butter for the dough and ghee for the filling. For a vegan version:

Ghee: Substitute with plant-based ghee or coconut oil.
Butter: Replace with vegan butter or any plant-based oil, like coconut oil or vegetable oil.