Bengali Gaja Recipe
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Bengali gaja is one of the Mahaprasad at the temple of Jagannath Puri. Those who go for darshan they must buy and bring this Mahaprasad. Sweet and divine, eating Bengali Gaja is a blissful indulgence. It is simple to make but needs a few trial as folding the gajas into desired shape is an art and which would come only with practice. Do try this recipe during the festive season as an offering to God.
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Ingredients
For making Bengali Gaja Dough
- 2 cup Flour Maida
- 1 tsp Ghee Clarified Butter
- 2 tsp Refined oil
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda soda
- 6 -10 tbsp Water or as required
For the sugar syrup
- 1 cup cup Sugar
- 1/4 cup Water
Deep Frying
- 50 gm Ghee
- 200 gm Refined oil
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Instructions
- Take a mixing bowl, sieve refined flour, and baking soda together. Sieving helps to remove lumps in the dry ingredients and it is a very important step if you want lip-smacking Gaja. See the picture as most of the time, flour has lumps and granules.
- Add 1 Tsp of ghee (clarified butter - Check out the notes section to make home made ghee) and 2 tbsp of oil to the dry ingredients and softly mix with your fingers.
- Add water gradually with help of a spoon, so that you do not pour too much of water and spoil the dough. It should be of a soft consistency so that it can be rolled easily. Cover it with a damp muslin cloth and keep it aside for 10 minutes.
- Then divide into equal parts like a small lemon and make small balls from it. Roll them into chappati /Roti and give a shape as shown in the picture below. It looks more like a tongue.
- When Bengali gaja is made in temples as Prasad, pure ghee is used for frying them but you can use both refined oil and ghee for deep frying.
- Remove excess oil with help of Kitchen towel and let the Bengali Gaja cool down completely. Check out the types of fold which you can make. 3 types of fold have been shown in the picture for your reference.
- Now take a sauce pan add 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar this would give you a sugar syrup of the perfect consistency and you don't have to boil it for a long time to get the thread like consistency.
- As soon as sugar melts and water starts to boil, switch off the gas and let it cool down for few minutes. Put the gajas in this sugar syrup and let it soak the sugar syrup for 5 minutes.
- Remove the gajas from the sugar syrup and as they cool down a white crystal layer of sugar syrup would be formed on the gajas. This is the specialty of Bengali Gaja.
- It can be stored in a airtight container and kept for a week. But enjoying it fresh is a blissful and divine indulgence as
Notes
About the Author: This Recipe has been shared by home chef Geeta Biswas who’s simple yet experienced home maker.
She feels that just like kids grow up with their toys, in the same way, she has grown up with her recipes. Ingredients are her tools and she loves making innovative recipes which have built up her identity.
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Recipe Nutrition
Calories: 799 kcal | Carbohydrates: 76 g | Protein: 6 g | Fat: 54 g | Saturated Fat: 10 g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 12 g | Monounsaturated Fat: 30 g | Trans Fat: 0.2 g | Cholesterol: 28 mg | Sodium: 112 mg | Potassium: 51 mg | Fiber: 1 g | Sugar: 40 g | Vitamin A: 1 IU | Calcium: 8 mg | Iron: 0.5 mg
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