Baked Nevri/Neouri/Nevreos/Sweet Puffs#SundayFunday

These half-moon/ crescent shaped sweet puffs, are filled with sweet filling of rawa, coconut and mixed fruits. Nevris are deep fried pastries a traditional East Indian recipe but these are baked not fried. These turn out great and do not give you the guilt feeling when enjoying these traditional Christmas Sweets!

Makes Around 22 Nevris
Ingredients
For The Dough
300 Grams All Purpose Flour
Salt To Taste
2 Tablespoons Sugar powder
2 Tablespoons Desi Ghee - melted
For The Paste / Satta
4 Tablespoons Ghee - at room temperature
Water As Required
2 Tablespoons Level Rice Flour
For The Filling
200 Grams Fine Rawa / Semolina
50 Grams Desiccated Coconut - optional
150 Grams Sugar powdered or to your taste
1 Tablespoons Khus Khus / Poppy Seeds
¼ Teaspoon Nutmeg Powder
5 Tablespoons Rose Water
25 Grams Raisins - chopped
25 Grams Cashew Nuts - chopped
2 Tablespoons Desi Ghee
A Pinch Salt

Method
For The Filling

Dry roast the rawa, khus khus and desiccated coconut till it releases a roasted aroma ( do not brown it). Remove this on to a bowl. In the same pan heat the ghee fry the nuts and raisins for a minute. Add the roasted ingredients and fry for 3 -4 minutes on low flame and till releases an aroma. Switch off the flame. Add the nutmeg and sugar powder and rose water. give it a good mix. Keep aside to cool.
till all is well combined
As the filling is cooling, let's make the dough.

In a large bowl sieve the flour. Add the ghee, salt and sugar, with your fingertips incorporate into the flour until it resembles fine crumbs. Then gradually add in little little water at a time to make a soft dough. Cover with a damp cloth and keep aside for at least 30 minutes to an hour.
Let's make the Paste/Satta

In a small bowl add ghee. Mix the ghee with your palms to make it creamy. Then add rice flour and again mix well. Make a creamy and smooth thick paste. Keep this paste aside.

Let's get back to making the Nevries

Divide the dough into small balls and divide it into equal parts. Divide the dough in same size balls... you should make balls in multiples of 3.   

Roll 3 balls into a medium small chapati. We required 3 chapati's for one batch. Cover the rest of the balls while you are rolling the first one into a circle. Slightly flour these and carefully set them aside. 

Take one and then apply the a thin layer of paste/satta on it evenly one then place another chapati on top again apply paste/satta.

Then again place a another chapati and apply a thin layer of paste/satta on the chapati and roll these into a tight roll to form a long roll (log shaped).

Cut into 1½ - 2" big pieces and keep covered with a damp cloth.

Then take each piece and place the cut side as shown in the pic.

Lightly press it down

roll to make a thick circle. Place a tablespoon or two of the filling, fold it, brush the edges with water. 

The press it edges well or press down the edges with a fork. Place in a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat. Set aside and cover with a damp cloth. 

Continue the above with the remaining pieces. 

When the tray is full brush the top with milk.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 30 minutes. After 15 minutes of baking change the sides of the tray. When they are baked the edges with brown slightly then keep both the elements on ( top and bottom) and bake for an additional 5 minutes only. 

Cool them completely and store in an airtight container.

These nevries/sweet puffs are amazing.

My Notes

Any leftover filling can be refrigerated for a couple of month. When ready to used, bring it to room temperature. 

Labels: Nevries, Sweet Puffs, East Indian, Baked, Christmas, Sunday Funday, Karanji

Christmas Bake

A Lemon Kissed Gingerbread Bundt for An Icelandic Christmas Tradition by Culinary Cam    

Baked Nevri / Neouri / Nevreos / Sweet Puffs by Sneha's Recipe    

Chocolate Chip Pie by A Day in the Life on the Farm  

Czech Christmas Bread by Karen's Kitchen Stories  

Holly Jolly Triple Chocolate Cookies by Amy's Cooking Adventures  

Iced Eggnog Chewy Spice Cookies by Faith, Hope, Love & Luck Survive Despite A Whiskered Accomplice Krestkransjes, Dutch Christmas Cookies by Mayuri's Jikoni  

Russian Tea Biscuits (not cookies) by Palatable Pastime

Olya Naralachi Karanji / Fresh Coconut Nevries

We East Indians make this for San Jao Cha Sann/St  John feast, which is celebrated on 24th June the proper day or the coming Sunday. 

This is must in my family, my mother and grandmother used to make this every year,  I too make this since my husband love them. This year I decided to take step by step pics, here is my family recipe. You can add more sugar if you want, but for us the sweetness was just right.

This Karanji is  also a traditional Maharashtrian sweet,  usually made  for festive occasions like Diwali and Ganesh Chaturthi.  

Olya means fresh, naralachya means coconut,  karanjya is turnovers or nevries,  which means fresh coconut karanji. The shelf live of these are just 3 - 4 days,  for a longer shelf-life you may use dry or desiccated coconut and sugar. 
I, prefer making karanji using fresh coconut for a superior taste. Making these, is quite a time consuming task, but,  if you love these, all the effort is worthwhile. This is one of the most easy recipes, do try preparing karanji this way and let me know how it turned out.

Makes around 9 - 10  Nevries /Karanjies - depending on the amount of filling inside.

Ingredients
For the filling

1 Cup Packed Fresh Grated Coconut
1/4 Teaspoon Heaped Cardamom pods
3 Tablespoons Heaped Sugar

A Pinch of Nutmeg powder

15 Cashewnuts - chopped

1 Tablespoon Golden Raisins/Kismis

1 Teaspoon Ghee/Vegetable Shortening

For the Covering

2 Cups All Purpose Flour

1½ Tablespoon Heaped Melted Ghee

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

For frying 

Vegetable Oil as required
 Method

For the filling

In a pan / kadai take ghee, coconut and sugar. Cook on low heat till  melts and the mixture comes together, add the raisins, cashew nuts, cardamom  and nutmeg powder and continue to cook the mixture on low medium heat for a 2 minutes stir continuously, since tends to burn quickly, so do not stop stirring at any given point of time. Once the mixture is dry  take  off the heat and set aside to cool completely.

For the covering

In a thaal/bowl mix  flour, melted ghee and salt, mix well.  Add water as required and knead to a soft, pliable,  smooth dough.  Keep it covered in a moist cloth  for 25 to 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes, knead the dough again slightly and make small round balls.

Take one small dough ball. With the help of a rolling pin, roll it flat (same as the size of a poori)

Place a spoonful of the coconut jaggery mixture in the center

Dip your finger into the water and apply on the edge of half the poori. Flod the other edge of the poori, press the edges well to seal the filling inside
Be sure that no air bubbles remain inside. The edges should be tightly sealed or the filling may ooze our during deep frying.

Press the edges using the back of a fork  or a cutter to give it that  design.  Place the filled karanjis on  a plate and cover with  a damp  towel to avoid drying. 

Heat oil for deep frying in a kadhai or deep pan.
Slowly fry the karanjis on low flame till golden brown. Remove on paper towel and let them rest for 20 mins. When cooled down, store in airtight container upto 3 - 4 days. If refrigerated, it can be stored for a few more days.

Enjoy.. these are delicious, I am sure you can't stop at one or two!!
Labels:   Coconut, Fried, Nevries, Karanji, Turnover, Festival , Maharastrian Cuisine, East Indian, Vegan