Kakinada Kaja

One form is a hollow cylinder holding the syrup inside it, the other a layered diamond holding it between the sheets.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 400 g maida, refined flour
• 100 g khoya, milk solids
• 60 ml oil, for the dough
• 150 ml water
• 400 g sugar
• 200 ml water, for the syrup
• 4 cardamom pods, seeds ground
• oil for deep frying

Method

1. ONE FORM IS A HOLLOW CYLINDER HOLDING THE SYRUP INSIDE IT, THE OTHER A LAYERED DIAMOND HOLDING IT BETWEEN THE SHEETS. Its article separates the two carefully and both names carry their shape. GOTTAM KAJA is hollow and cylindrical -- gottam is a cylinder -- with a crisp outside and a syrup-filled inside. MADATHA KAJA is made by rolling the dough into LAYERED STRIPS, cut as a diamond, and its article is explicit that it holds the syrup IN ITS LAYERS RATHER THAN INSIDE IT, which makes it drier and means it hardens as it keeps. One dough, two shapes, two quite different sweets.
2. THE DOUGH IS FLOUR, KHOYA AND OIL. Its article gives the three. Rub the khoya and oil into the maida before the water, then knead firm and rest it twenty minutes.
3. FOR THE CYLINDER, THE DOUGH IS WRAPPED ROUND SOMETHING AND FRIED. Roll a strip, wind it round a greased metal tube or a thick skewer, press the seam, and fry it on the former until set before sliding it off. The hollow is the point: without it there is nowhere for the syrup to go.
4. FOR THE DIAMOND, IT IS LAYERED AND CUT ON THE DIAGONAL. Roll thin, brush with oil, fold and roll again twice, then cut diamonds across the folds so the layers show on the long edges.
5. BOTH ARE FRIED LOW AND SLOW. A hundred and fifty degrees. Crispness all the way through is what lets the syrup in, and that takes time rather than heat.
6. THE CYLINDERS ARE FILLED, NOT JUST DIPPED. Held under the warm syrup so it runs into the open ends, then stood on end to drain the excess.
7. THE DIAMONDS ARE DIPPED AND DRAINED HARD. In for thirty seconds, out onto a rack. Left to soak they lose the separation between the layers that they exist for.
8. THE SYRUP IS AT ONE THREAD, WITH CARDAMOM. Thin syrup makes them soggy and thick syrup never gets inside.
9. THE DRIER ONE KEEPS AND THE WET ONE DOES NOT. Its article says the layered form hardens over time. Eat the cylinders the same day.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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