Easy Recipe for Goan Neories

How to make delicious Goan neureo

Here’s an easy recipe for Goan neories or Goan neureo – yet another popular Goan Christmas sweet that’s an essential addition to every Goan sweets platter. These light and crisp crescent-shaped delights have a flavourful coconut stuffing and are made in a variety of ways.

Today, I’ll show you a few design variations, but the neureo or karanjis will be deliciously crisp and have a smooth outer covering without any bubbles. I’ll also show you how to make a flakier outer covering.

These Goan neuries or coconut turnovers are deliciously crisp and light. You’ll want to enjoy more than one!

Do check out the other Christmas Goan sweets on my website, and do try my easy recipes for a delicious Christmas cake, crunchy Goan kulkuls, crunchy Goan kormolas, tasty coconut candy, fragrant and tasty bolinhas, quick and delicious baath cake, decorative baked neureo, Goan milk toffee, and my healthy Christmas cookie box.

Ingredients

Outer covering

1 ½ cup (190g) maida (all-purpose flour)

3 tablespoons fine rava

1 ½ tbsp ghee

¼ tsp salt

Stuffing

1 cup + 2 tbsp (115g) grated fresh coconut

6 tbsp (65g) fine rava (semolina)

1 tbsp + 1 tsp pure ghee

1 tbsp khus khus (poppy seeds)

2 tbsp sesame seeds

2 tbsp chopped raisins

2 tbsp chopped almonds

¾ tsp ground cardamom

¼ tsp salt

½ cup + 1 tbsp (120g) sugar, powdered

(Will make around 27 neureo)

Procedure

1. We’ll start by preparing the stuffing. Dry roast the khus khus and sesame seeds, one by one, on medium-low heat. Remove these to a bowl.
2. In the same pan, heat 1 tbsp ghee. Lightly roast the chopped raisins and almonds for 2 – 3 minutes. Transfer these to the earlier bowl.
3. To the leftover ghee in the pan, add the 6 tbsp of rava. Roast this on medium-low heat for around 5 minutes till it gives off the aroma of roasted rava and becomes golden brown in colour. Transfer it to the same earlier bowl.
4. To the same pan, add 1 tsp ghee. Roast the grated coconut in this till it becomes drier and changes colour slightly.
5. Add all the other roasted ingredients from the bowl to the coconut. Mix everything and roast for a minute. Turn off the heat and let the mix cool to room temperature.
6. While that is cooling, you could start preparing the dough for the outer covering. Sift the maida. To it, add the salt and the 3 tbsp of rava. Mix everything.
7. Add the sizzling hot ghee to the flour. Mix it in with a spoon first and then rub the ghee well into the flour by hand.
8. Make a medium stiff dough with water. Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes.
9. Into the cooled stuffing mix, stir in the salt, ground cardamom and powdered sugar.
10. Lightly knead the dough for the outer covering and divide it into 4 parts. Start with one part and keep the other three covered.
11. Dust the work surface lightly with maida and shape the dough ball into a log. Cut it into 1-inch long segments.
12. Roll each segment into a thin puri. Place around 1 heaped tbsp of stuffing on the lower half of each puri. Moisten the puri edges with a little water. Fold the upper half of the puri over the stuffing and then press down along the edges of the half-moon shaped neuri / karanji. Cut the extra dough from all around the curved edge using a pastry cutter / pizza cutter / knife leaving a flat border around ½ inch wide all around. Make any design of your choice along the border.
13. If using a karanji mould, first lightly dust the inside with flour. Then place the puri on it and a heaped tablespoon of stuffing in the centre or on the lower half. Carefully, close the mould and press down along the curved edge. Tear off the extra dough from all around. Open the mould and remove the neuri / karanji.
14. Keep the shaped neureo on a flour dusted thali or tray till you finish shaping all the neureo. Keep the tray with neureo covered with a wet napkin or muslin cloth
15. Deep fry the neureo on low or medium-low heat. Don’t let the oil get too hot. Fry as many neureo as you can at a time. If you add too few neureo in each batch, the temperature of the oil will rise. If the oil gets too hot, either reduce the heat to low or turn off the heat for a minute or so and then turn it on again. If you fry the neureo this way withroper temperature control, they’ll be light and crisp and won’t develop any bubbles on the surface of the covering.
16. Fry the neureo till they’re pale brown in colour on each side. Remove to a colander placed above a bowl or to a plate lined with an absorbent kitchen paper towel.

17 When they cool down completely store the neureo in an airtight container. They’ll stay good at room temperature for 2 -3 weeks. After that. Store them in the fridge.

Enjoy!