Goan Layered Nevri New Recipe

How to Make Layered Karanji, New Recipe

Today, I’ll show you how to make a beloved Goan Christmas sweet – light and flaky, layered nevri or karanji, with detailed instructions on how to get this recipe right! The filling in my recipe has a special ingredient – instant homemade mawa – that gives the nevri an even more indulgent taste. I have also added a creative twist to the traditional recipe by introducing a new kind of layering paste or satha that will ensure beautifully separated delicate layers in the nevreo. Now let me show you how I make this popular delight.

And if you want to check out some more Karanji recipes, here are my other Goan neuri recipes – festive neuri recipe, and how to make baked nevri or karanji.

Ingredients

Filling

2 tsp ghee

2 tbsp chopped almonds

2 tbsp chopped cashew nuts

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 ½ tbsp raisins, each cut in half

2 tsp ghee

3 tbsp rava

120 g mawa (1 tbsp ghee + 2/3 cup milk powder + ¼ cup milk +1 tsp ghee)

½ tsp ground cardamom

25g (¼ cup) shredded dry coconut / desiccated coconut

60g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) powdered sugar

Outer covering

(Could get around 18 – 22 neuris)

1 ½ cup (190g) maida

¼ cup (40g) fine rava (semolina)

2 tbsp melted ghee

¼ tsp salt

Layering paste

2 ½ tbsp ghee

4 tbsp (1/4 cup) custard powder – strawberry flavour

1 tbsp rice flour

OR 5 tbsp cornflour (no rice flour)

Make a smooth, spreadable paste (called satha).

Procedure

1. Let’s start with the filling. In a non-stick pan, lightly toss the chopped nuts and sesame seeds in 2 tsp of ghee on a medium-low flame.
2. Turn off the heat and immediately throw in the raisins and toss everything for a minute longer. Remove to large bowl.
3. Roast the rava in 2 tsp ghee on medium heat till it changes colour slightly. Remove it the same bowl as before.
4. Next, we have to roast the mawa lightly. If you cannot source good and pure mawa, here’s how you can make your own at home. In the same pan, mix 1tbsp ghee, the milk powder, and the milk till you get a smooth paste. Turn on the heat and keep it at medium-low. Roast the mawa till it becomes a soft lump that moves away from the pan. Remove the mawa to a bowl and let it cool completely. Crumble it using a fork.
5. To the cooled roasted ingredients, add in the crumbled mawa, ground cardamom, shredded dry coconut, and powdered sugar. The super-tasty filling is now ready.
6. Knead a stiff dough with the sifted maida, rawa, salt, and oil, adding a little water at a time. Rest the dough for around15 minutes.
7. Then knead it lightly for a minute and divide it into 5 balls of almost equal size.
8. Roll 5 medium-thin, oblong dough sheets, adding a dusting of maida if necessary for rolling them out more easily, and keep them covered to prevent them from drying out.
9. On the first one, spread a thin layer of the satha. Add a light dusting of maida, and place the next sheet on it. Smooth out the surface of the upper sheet with your palm to remove any trapped air from between the two sheets. Spread some satha over the second dough sheet and add a dusting of maida on this one too. Repeat the same process for the remaining 3 sheets.
10. Then roll up the stack of dough sheets, roll them up firmly to form a tightly rolled cylinder. Ensure that the edge is sealed by gently rolling the cylinder backwards and forwards. Then cut the cylinder across its width to divide into two smaller rolls.
11. First roll: Cut it into discs 2 cms broad. Place a disc down with a cut side with the layers on top. Press it down so the layers slant slightly towards the front. Roll it into a small puri but not too thin. See that the side with distinct layers is on the underside and then place around a tbsp of filling in the centre of the rolled out dough. Brush the edge of the dough disc with a little water, fold it over the filling to form a semicircle and then seal the curved edge. Use a pastry cutter to give a neater shape to the neuri. Keep all the neuris covered.
12. Second roll: Cut the cylinder lengthwise into two parts. And then cut each part into 3cms broad pieces. Press each piece down lightly layers side underneath to flatten it and spread the layers out a little. Then roll out each of these into a roughly rectangular shape after first dusting the rolling board with maida. Let the side with distinct layers be underneath and then add the filling and shape the neoreo or karanjis so the layers run across thew karanjis from side to side.Keep all the karanjis covered till you finish frying all of them.
13. Heat the oil on medium-low heat. When it is hot enough (test the heat by dropping a small piece of dough into it), lower the heat to low. Gently add in the nevreo. Don’t crowd the pan with too many nevris. Fry for around 2 minutes on each side.
14. To drain the oil fully from between the layers, first drain the nevris in a stainless steel strainer with a plate below it to catch the oil. Position the nevris so the oil can easily drain out. After a few minutes, transfer each batch of fried neuris a bowl lined with an absorbent paper towel.
15. After the nevris cool, store them in an airtight container. The nevris are delicate so don’t press them down when you place them in the container. The karanjis will stay good for around two weeks. After that you could store them in the fridge.

Enjoy!