Somas is a traditional sweet prepared for Deepavali/Diwali in our home. It can be prepared with different variety of filling. It is known as somas or karchikai or somasi in Tamil and Kajjikayalu in Andhra Pradesh and karanji in Maharashtra. Though the base is the same the stuffing differs. I have used a very simple stuffing prepared with fried gram, coconut, nuts and sugar. I have made this recipe as simple as possible with step wise pictures and cooking instructions. Today we will learn how to make somas-karanji following this easy recipe.
Sweet Somas Recipe-Karchikai-Karanji
Prep Time : 10 mins
Cook Time : 30 mins
Yields:15 somas
Recipe Category: Sweet Snack-Festival Recipes
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar
Yields:15 somas
Recipe Category: Sweet Snack-Festival Recipes
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar
Ingredients needed
All Purpose flour/maida-1 1/2 cup
Rava/sooji/semolina -1/4 cup
Oil/ghee-1 1/2 tbsp
Salt -a generous pinch
For the Stuffing
Fried Gram/pottu kadalai -1/2 cup
Grated coconut-1/2 cup
Powdered sugar -3/4 cup
Cashew nuts – 1/4 cup
Cardamom -4
Oil for deep frying
Preparation of Somas dough
In a bowl or big plate, mix together maida, oil, rava and salt together. Add water little at a time and make a smooth and stiff dough as you make for poori. Cover it with a damp cloth and keep it aside for 1- 1 1/2 hours.
Let the dough rest. We will prepare the stuffing –
Dry roast fried gram slightly or until it is hot to touch. Once it cools, powder it coarsely.
Heat 1/2 tsp of ghee and fry the coconut until the moisture goes and you get a nice aroma of fried coconut. You do not have to brown it.
Fry cashew nuts in 1/2 tsp of ghee.
Powder sugar finely along with cardamom.
Now mix together coarsely ground fried gram, coconut, powdered sugar and cashew nuts well. Now the stuffing for the somas is ready.
Method
Now take the dough, knead it well and divide it into equal balls. Dusting flour, roll out a ball into a small poori. Using a lid, press on the rolled out dough and remove the excess dough. You will get a perfect circle. I used a lid 4 inch in diameter. In this method all the somas will be of the same size.
Place 2-2 1/2 tsp of stuffing in the middle of the circle. Now dip your finger in water and apply it on the edges of half a circle, so that the somas will stick well and the stuffing will not come out while frying.
Now close it and seal the edges well by pressing it with your fingers. Using a fork, give a nice design to the somas.
Repeat the same process for the rest of the dough. Now our prepared somas are all waiting to be fried (picture below).
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed kadai, when oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium (to check if the oil is hot, drop a small piece of dough into the oil, if it comes to the surface immediately, then the oil is hot enough to fry the somas). Drop 2-3 somas (depending on the capacity of the kadai and quantity of oil used) and fry both sides until golden brown.
Place it in a colander or a paper towel to drain excess oil.
Repeat the same process for the rest of the prepared somas dough with stuffing.
Enjoy preparing this crispy and delicious sweet somas or karchikai or karanji for Diwali this year.
Note
Always keep the dough covered with a damp cloth to prevent drying.
You can add a tbsp of roasted khus khus to the stuffing. You can use desiccated coconut also.
You get ready made somas mold in the market but I feel this method is much easier than using the somas mold.
You will have some leftover stuffing, which you can store it in the refrigerator or eat as such. It tastes great.
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Nice somas…gona 2 make a try tis diwali….
I am also trying this.let u know soon
I tried it today – it came out so well thanks to u padhu .ur step-wise pics were perfect guidance in very stage ..
Hi im shobana each recepi ot wil b unique step
Wise pic is easy to understand thank you
I tried ourt n came well, but the crspyness gone after sometimes, help me
For the somas to be crisp, the dough should be stiff and also should be kneaded well.
Hi padu I tried this recipe and it came out good but the problem was after frying somas it became soggy not crisp and the content into it became wet can you reply me the reason for this mistake?
The dough should be stiff for somas to be crisp.
Instead of rolling by hand may i use poori press.
Yes, you can Akila
Hi Padu ji,
It was great reading your post. In place of sugar, I used powdered jaggery. Is that fine? I felt the taste good.
And also u used 1/2 maida and 1/2 wheat.
How is rava useful? Why do u add rava? Please let me know. Thank you in advance.
Rava is used to give texture. As I have not tried using jaggery or wheat flour, I am not sure. You can give me your feedback.
do we need to roast the rava
I used ready made roasted rava.
How long we can store it?
For a week.
very good
Good recipe. Fork using is good trick.super padhu
Hi..what Shud be the approx thickness of the poor for karathu..mine was not crisp..but on the softer side.
Yes, if the outer cover is thick, it will not get cooked properly and will not be crisp.
Hi
Ingredients grams la sollunga pls
Tried the somas today as my husband loves it. Came out very well except crispness. I used jaggery instead of white sugar. Thank you for the recipe. Can add the video for the closing and for the dough texture. I love and try all your recipes.
Hi Padhu. Thanks for the recipe. I tried it today. The taste was good. But the outer cover was hard. I think I should have rolled out very thin.i made it like poori's thickness.
Hi sis.. I have tried this recipe many times and it came out well everytime . But I am not getting the crispier somas.. It is becoming either soft or hard the next day itself. How can I make crispier somas? Kindly assist. TIA..
Once it cools completely, put it in an airtight container. Oil should be of medium heat when frying.
I ll try today….
And ur steps are so easy understandable…
Thks padhu…
can we use dry coconut