Chandrakala | Festival Special

South Indian stuffed sweet turnovers, similar to Surat Ghari. Though is called Chandrakala (Crescent Moon shape) in Southern parts, its nothing but the Ghari which we get in Western parts of India. Very famous in Surat, Gujarat and hence, its also known as Surati Ghari. Each region has it own unique stuffing and decorations, but most common form is sweetened khoa with nuts and raisins. Here is my version of typical South Indian style Chandrakala.

Ingredients-1
1 cup	Maida
1 pinch	Baking soda
1 pinch	Salt
1½ tbsp	Ghee (cold)
11 tsp	Water

Ingredients-2
1 cup	Water (for Syrup)
½ cup	Sugar (for syrup)

Ingredients-3
½ cup	Khoya
¼ cup	Sugar (for stuffing)
1 no	Cardamom (powdered)
10 nos	Raisins
10 nos	Cashew nuts
1 tsp	Ghee (for toasting)

Ingredients-4
2 cup	Oil (for deep frying)

Instructions

1. Making the Dough: Mix maida, baking soda, salt and cold ghee. Slowly add the water and knead to make a soft dough. Let it rest under a cloth to avoid drying.

2. Making the stuffing: Slightly warm the khoya (if kept in refrigerator) in microwave for 10 seconds. Toast the cashews and raisins in a tsp of ghee and add to the khoya along with sugar and mix well to make a thick stuffing. Click here to make Khoya.

3. Shaping the dough: Divide the dough into equal parts and roll them to make small balls. Take one portion and roll out like a puri. Spoon little stuffing and fold it into half. Seal the edges with water and press as shown in the picture. Now starting from one corner, using your index finger fold in (work your finger like a questions mark pattern) to form those ridged pattern. Try, if not make sure its completely sealed.

4. Making the sugar syrup: Here comes the tough part, you need 2 string consistency, which would be easy to say but practically its very tricky. I could easily say that you need to look for two string between your fingers but its quite hard to find out. So here is one solution, I used a regular non stick pan and melted the sugar in a cup of water and brought the flame to high. Exactly after 6 to 7 minutes that stage should occur. Switch off. This syrup has a tendency to solidify very soon, so its always advisable to fry the chandrakalas simultaneously and immediately dump them in the syrup.

5. Deep frying: Heat oil simultaneously while making the sugar syrup. Fry the chandrakalas till golden on all sides and immediately give them a quick drench in the syrup. Spoon the syrup over them for a couple of times and line them in a parchment paper (wax paper). Decorate with silver varak (optional) and nuts.

6. Cooling: Let them cool completely and then store in a air-tight container for up to a week.

Maida dough, khoya stuffing and water for sealing.

Fold the poori with little stuffing.

Seal with water and press with your finger.

This is how you fold the edges and store them under a clean kitchen towel to avoid drying.

Perfect raw chandrakalas and some suryakalas.

Deep fried in oil, my kadai looks awful….

Taking a nice sugary bath in the syrup. This recipe is going to yield very little syrup, drenching fully is not possible so spoon the syrup over them.

Fancy sweet wala Chandrakalas are ready. By the time you fry all those, the sugar might get harder and crystallize. Slightly reheat to melt them, but can be done only once.

After hours of rolling and shaping comes the achievement smiling in a plate to satisfy our palate.