Chitti Kaajalu

Festive season is here and its the time for sweets.I got bored with regular Kheer and halwa so tried making this Kaaja with long shelf time,it was a failure when made in sometime last year,after long time I gave a try once again for Dussehra this year and it was a hit,I was not sure with the end product so made them in small batch,to my surprise my husband liked them so much and he said these are like Kakinada Kaaja,the most popular kaaja in Andhra,I was so happy hearing the lovely compliments.Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Maida:1.5 cups

Baking Powder:1/2 spn

Curd:1/2 cup

Butter:1 stick(at room temperature)

Oil:For Deep Frying

Salt:A Pinch

Rice Flour:3 spns

Sugar Syrup:

Sugar:2 cups

Water 1 cup

Rose Water:5-6 drops

Elachi:2 pods

Procedure:

To make Sugar Syrup:

1.Take sugar in a boiling pan and dissolve 2 cups of sugar in 1 cup of water and bring it to boil and then add the elachi pods,put the flame on medium and boil it till the syrup becomes sticky.Finally add rose water stir and keep aside.

To Make Kaaja:

1.In a bowl take all purpose flour,baking powder,butter,pinch of salt and mix evenly,make sure that the flour is very well coated with butter this helps to make a crispy kaaja.

When done add the curd and make it to a smooth chapathi dough,keep it aside and let it rest for 15-20 mins.

2.In another bowl take rice flour and add a spn of ghee/butter and mix well to make crumbled effect and put aside.

3.Now take the chapathi dough and knead well,pinch a medium orange sized dough and roll it to thin chapathi and now sprinkle the rice flour mixture on the chapathi and then tightly roll the chapathi as we roll a mat.

4.After rolling it like a mat cut 3/4" pieces,now take each piece and press them,don't apply more pressure as the kaaja may loose its shape.Repeat the same with all the cut piece

s.

5.Heat oil for deep frying the kaaja,when hot add the pressed kaaja into the oil and fry them till golden color on all sides and add them to the made sugar syrup and let them soak for 20 mins and the taken the kaaja out of the Sugar Syrup to a plate and then the kaaja is ready to serve.

Note:

1.Adding Curd is optional,U can add water instead of curd.

2.Rose water is also optional I just added to get more flavor.

3.Instead of rolling a single chapathi into mat u can place one more chapathi on top of other with the rice flourin between and then roll it.This gives more twists in the kaaja.