Nevri

 

 

 

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly, 

Fa la la la la, la la la la. 

Tis the season to be jolly, 

Fa la la la la, la la la la. "

 



 Yeah........ just another 9 days for "Christmas" I am so excited & looking forward for a grand fun filled Xmas.  Last year there was no celebration for us as we had just moved to Austin & were settling. I really cried last Christmas because we dint do anything  at all & I had decided that next year it is going to be a grand Christmas celebration. Yes, Xmas is grand this year in my home here in Austin. My tree is already up & I am yet to decorate my full house this week.

 

 

 

Well we Mangalore Christians make "Kuswar" for Xmas. Kuswar means set of sweets that is made during Xmas. One of the items that goes into Kuswar is "Nevri" , which is in todays post. This is similar to Gujiya, a sweet Puffs/ samosa, but the filling is very different. This sweet is my husbands favorite. I just made this today & I am totally exhausted, as this is very labor intensive job. In total I made 54 of these & they are all stored in the airtight box. I will be giving it as Christmas goodies to all my friends once I am done making all the items. This sweet is my Mom's recipe & there are various versions people make.  This is how I made it.

 

 

Makes: 60 Nevriyo

Making time: 3- 5 hours

Cooking time: 5 to 8 mins

 

Ingredients:

 

For the Dough

• 5 cups all purpose flour
• 5 Tbsp melted & warm Vegetable shortening (I used Crisco) (In India Dalda is used)
• 1 tspn Salt
• 1.5 cups Water (As much as required to form a dough) 

For the filling

• 4 cups grated coconut (I used slightly sweetened coconut)
• 1/2 cup dry roasted Kuskus (White Poppy seeds)
• 1/2 cup dry roasted sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup chopped roasted Cashews
• 1 Tspn powdered cardamom/ Elachi
• 1.5 cup sugar
• 1/4 tspn salt

Method:

1. Make a soft dough with flour, shortening, salt & water. Make sure you knead it well. Now rest it for 1/2 hour by covering it with a kitchen towel. I used my Kitchen aid stand mixer to make the dough, as its easy & fast. If you don't have kitchen aid, mixing it with hands works fine too but it can be a little tiring.
2. Now mix all the ingredients in a big bowl that is mentioned under filling.
3. You will need a mold to make this sweet. These are available in Indian store.

 

Assembling the Nevri

1. Make small lime size balls out of the dough, dust with a little flour and roll them into very thin flat circles, the size of Puris. (If you don't make it very thin, they will not be crispy)
2. Now place this puri in the center of the Mold & now place about 1 tsp of the filling mixture right in the centre of the puri .
3. Wet your fingers & run it around the sides of the dough where exactly it seals. Now close the mold & press it tightly so that the dough seals in well.
4. Remove any excess dough from around & place the Nevri on a parchment paper a greased plate.
5. Repeat the steps until all the filling/ dough has been used up.
6. Now heat about 1 ltrs of oil in a heavy bottom frying pan, Once the oil is hot, fry 5 Nevri at a time on medium heat. Make sure you rotate the Nevri for even cooking. Once they are golden brown, remove from oil & place them on top of paper towel.