Suji Kakara - Deep fried semolina cakes stuffed with sweet filling

This last Diwali, my family was on a Snack-A-Thon... this essentially meant, we made snacks at home, snacks that usually we get from outside or those that are made only by mommy dearest on holidays or special occasions. Well, this post is not about that though... its about the sweet coconut stuffing that we used in one of those snacks, which was left out.. So I thought of making Suji Kakara (Deep fried semolina cakes stuffed with sweet filling) on a lazy Friday evening for the evening snacks..

Am home on maternity leave now, and while I eagerly wait for my little bundle of joy to arrive, I thought I should give my tongue & tummy a sweet treat... ohh and my current family also.. ha ha ha..

Suji Kakara

• 1 cup suji (semolina) (made around 10 kakaras - it also depends on how much stuffing you have)
• 2 cups of water
• 1 table spoon ghee
• 2-3 table spoons sugar (add more of you like sweeter coating for the kakaras)
• 1 tsp salt
• Sweet coconut stuffing (grated coconut + jaggery + cardamom powder)
• Oil to deep fry the kakaras

• A non-stick pan is a must for this. I don’t think I could have done it without the non-stick pan. The mixture is very sticky & using a regular pan will definitely be a challenge. A challenge that only mothers can take, not me !!
• Heat water in the non stick pan on medium heat. When bubbles appear, add sugar, salt & ghee. Give it a stir & wait for the water to start bubbling again. 
• Once the water starts to bubble, lower the heat to the lowest possible setting & add the semolina. Keep mixing as you add the semolina. This prevents the forming of lumps.
• It took me around 12 mins while the dough came together as a big lump which is exactly what you want. (Note to self : Next time, take pictures so that when someone asks, you can tell them with evidence)
• Once the dough comes together, cover the pan, switch off the heat & let the dough rest & cool for around 10-15 mins. 
• At this time, the dough should be warm, just warm so that you can handle it with your hands.
• If its hotter than this, wait for a little bit more. Try to keep the dough covered, because it might dry out. Idea is to cool it but keep to moist. 
• Now comes the fun part. Pinch out a small ball of the dough, flatten it using your palms & fingers. Put some stuffing in the middle & close it. Now this process sounds very easy when you just write about it, when I did it first, the kakara looked crooked, so I re-did it. (Note to self : Next time make a video or picture series for this process, its hard to explain in words)
• Once all kakaras are formed, its time to fry them. 
• Heat oil for deep frying on low-med heat. Once oil is hot enough (how do you know that? do the pinch dough test - drop a small pinch of sough into oil, if it comes to the top immediately, you know that the oil is hot enough), drop 2 kakaras at a time into the oil & fry till the outer layer is brown in color. 
• Enjoy hot kakaras by themselves. I don’t think these sweet kakaras need any accompaniment. We had them for evening snacks & the crowd was pleased. They can be had for breakfast also.