Madatha Khaja

Happy Sankranthi to All !!!

Madatha Khaja or Tapeswaram Khaja is a delicacy of Andhra Pradesh & originated from the district of Kakinada. These khaja's have been my favorite sweet since my childhood. I learned & mastered making them perfectly from my mom.

While growing up I was the little helper on busy days in the kitchen to my mom. Though I was never allowed in kitchen for a daily cooking stuff, but when the tedious cooking for festivals have to be done & which doesn't involves standing near the stove or handling any hot stuff I was allowed to help her. That's when I got a chance of learning in rolling the dough, cutting them & shaping them.

Lately, I was craving & dreaming about this sweet & decided to make them for Sankranthi. My husband gave a helping hand in frying & soaking them in sugar syrup, which made my job very easy in making them. We ate few fried khaja's without soaking them as they were irresistibly good to eat. It was fun making them together with my hubby & also the loved them the way they turned out.

Prep Time: 2hrs {sitting time + making kaja's}
Cook time: 30mins
Yields : 40 to 50 khaja's
Ingredients
500g or 3&1/2Cups maida / All-purpose flour
1/4Tsp baking soda {optional}
1/2Cup ghee
1/2Cup curd
1/2Tsp salt {optional}
1Water {use some more if needed}
Oil for deep frying
1/4Cup rice flour
1/4Cup butter @ room temperature {not melted one}
Sugar Syrup 
4Cups sugar
1Cup water
1Tsp elachi powder
Directions 

- In a large pan add maida, baking soda, salt & mix them. Add in ghee & curd to the flour mixture. Mix them well. Now the mixture will be little wet, but you still need some more liquid to form a dough.
- Add in little by little water while making dough. The dough should be firm, smooth & not sticky. Cover it with a wet kitchen towel & let it sit aside for 1hr & no more than that.

Making Sugar Syrup
- After waiting for 1hr now it's time to make the sugar syrup. In a wide deep pan {we need depth & width to a pan because it will fit more khaja's while soaking them} add sugar & water to it.
- Keep the sugar water on medium heat & bring the syrup to string consistency. It will take around 10 to 15mins to get to that stage. Add in powdered cardamon & switch off heat.

Making Kaja's
- Now take the dough & divide it to 4 equal balls. Dust the surface with rice flour where you are rolling the  dough.
- Pick a dough ball & roll it thin, as shown in the picture. Apply ghee to the rolled dough & sprinkle rice flour all over the rolled dough.
- Roll the dough as shown in the figure & cut the khaja's as shown above. Next take one khaja & roll them lightly as shown above to make them long. Repeat the same with rest of the dough & proceed to frying them. {You can make the khaja's in 2batches}

- Heat pan with oil for deep frying. Once the oil is hot add in the first batch of khaja's & fry them to golden brown in color.
- Once the khaja's are fried to perfect color add them to the sugar syrup. Allow them to sit for 5mins & in that time the khaja's will coat in sugar syrup perfectly.
- Remove them on to a plate & allow them to dry for 15mins or till they are totally cool.
- Arrange them in a air tight container & enjoy them for a long time. They will be good for 3 weeks or more.
Note: 
- After staying for few days in a air tight container, sugar syrup on khaja's will slightly crystalizes. Nothing to panic & enjoy the sweet little one's.
- You can skip adding soda totally. This is the first time I added & should say that there was no difference.
- Add a pinch of salt to the the maida, along with curd & ghee if you want to eat them as they are without dipping in sugar syrup.
- Don't allow the dough to rest for more than 1hr.
- I used brown sugar instead of regular white sugar. It's your choice. The syrup making process remains the same.

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