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Discover Bengali Gujiya: The Unique Milk-Based Sweet Unlike Its North Indian Cousin
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News18•15-10-2026, 18:46
Discover Bengali Gujiya: The Unique Milk-Based Sweet Unlike Its North Indian Cousin
- •Unlike the deep-fried, pastry-wrapped North Indian gujiya filled with khoya and nuts, Bengali gujiya is a soft, milk-forward sweet shaped into a ring without any outer crust.
- •Often called a 'poor man's sweet', the Bengali version is made by cooking khoya, cream, milk, ghee, and sugar into a thick, pliable mixture infused with cardamom and rose water.
- •The simple recipe requires precise cooking consistency to ensure the mixture holds its shape when rolled into small cylinders and joined at the ends.
- •The finished sweets should be cooled, shaped, and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator due to the use of fresh dairy ingredients.
Key Questions Answered
North Indian gujiya is a deep-fried, crescent-shaped pastry made from flour and stuffed with khoya and nuts, whereas Bengali gujiya skips the pastry shell entirely. Instead, it is a soft, milk-forward sandesh made by cooking khoya with cream, milk, ghee, and sugar, then shaped into a distinctive ring.
The recipe calls for crumbled khoya, powdered sugar, full-fat fresh cream, full-fat milk, ghee, cardamom powder, rose water, and optional semolina and milk powder for binding and texture.
After cooking and slightly cooling the khoya mixture, knead it smoothly, roll it into short two-inch cylinders, and join the ends to form a ring. Because it contains fresh cream and milk, store the finished sweets in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
