Scene 1 take 1 – the first day
It almost became a competition between the father and the son. The greedy son of a clandestine greedy father (my known ones would refuse that). When the first batch of Jibe Goja was made, I was excited but since there hasn’t been any form of exercise for almost a month, I restrained myself. Innocence is daring and they don’t think of consequences. The junior version completed 3 at one go and still wanted more. Remember, I love fried sweets and jilipi, goja, khaja are few of my all time favourites.
Scene 2 take 1 – After a week (3 batches of Jibe Goja had already been made and consumed)
The son is on vacation and the father is alone at home. The current but not the last lot of the Jibe Goja is made and has been kept in an air tight plastic container and as the father writes this post, the last 2 pieces are left. Sizes can be tricky in this case and on purpose, the smaller ones are kept for the son and the father can play with the bigger ones.
Along with Mihidana, SitaBhog and Narkel naru, Jibe Goja used to be a regular part of a Bijoya Dashami Thali. Amongst Bengalis, when you celebrate Bijoya Dashami – the ritual of wishing each other after the bisarjan (or immersion of Goddess Durga has happened) by touching the feet of the elders and doing a kolakuli (hugging each other in an alternate way for 4 times) with the peers, mishti is compulsory. Each house has its trademark signature dishes; be it Ghoogni (chickpeas curry), singhara (Samosa for the rest of the world, but we believe Singara is far superior), Naru, nimki, elo melo goja or jibe goja.
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Jibe Goja and Bijoya Sweets. Can this be a diwali sweet too?
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Dough
- 2 cups All purpose flour
- 2 tbsp Any White Vegetable Oil
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 150 ml water
- A pinch of baking soda
Ingredients for the Sugar Syrup
- 1 1/2 cup Sugar
- 150 ml water
Other Ingredient
- any white oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Make a firm but pliable dough out of the ingredients listed under dough. ust make sure to add water little by little since the exact quantity of water needed for a firm dough can also depend on the quality of the flour. Knead for atleast 6 - 8 minutes for get the perfect dough.
- The sugar syrup can be made in advance and kept. In a saucepan, take the water and the sugar and bring it to a boil. Continue simmering on medium heat till it thickens and has a syrup like consistency. We don't need to bring colour to the syrup. This process takes about 10 minutes.
- Now for making the gojas, make small round balls of the dough and start rolling them out in an oval shape. The thickness can be that of a puri or luchi.
- In the meanwhile, take oil in a frying pan for deep frying and start heating it.
- The sugar syrup, in case made in advance, should be warm.
- Take a knife and score the flattened doughs (basically make small punctures so that air escapes and they don't rise when dipped in the oil)
- Like an assembly line, follow the process: 1) Make a small round ball and roll it out. 2) Score the dough with a knife. 3) Release the dough in the hot oil (just like frying a poori). You need to control the temperature of the oil so that the gojas don't burn. 4) When the gojas have turned golden brown, take them out, strain oil and immediately dip in the sugar syrup. 5) Make sure that the sugar syrup coats the entire goja and then using a tong, shake off excess syrup and keep the goja on a plate.
- This entire process takes about 20 minutes for all the gojas to be made. You can even make a few and leave the rest of the dough in the refrigerator for another day.
- Once the gojas have cooled down, store them in an airtight container and consume within a week. I can promise you that they finish off in a jiffy.