TAPESWARAM KAJA

Tapeswaram Kaja is one of the most famous and traditional sweet from Andhra Pradesh.Tapeswaram Kaja or Madata Kaja both are same but different names.Tapeswaram is a small town in the East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh , this is the place where kaja was born and became very popular all over Andhra pradesh . This sweet is especially made for marriages and all   other     ceremony's ,special occasions and traditional festivals in Telugu Families. most of the people likes kaja because it gives a great taste.this kaja is  juicy and  such a wonderful taste. sweet lovers can't forgot the taste of kaja they enjoy unique taste of kaja.

INGREDIENTS TO MAKE TAPESWARAM KAJA

• Maida or all purpose flour (Get in any American stores) -1 cup
• Baking Powder -1/2 tsp
• A pinch of salt
• Ghee     -  1/4 cup  
• Oil for deep frying (like 1/2 kg)
• Cardamoms -2

For the paste

• Ghee -6 tsp
• Rice flour -1/4 cup
• Sugar powder -2 tsp
• Almonds grated (optional)  

For Sugar Syrup

• Sugar  - 2 cups
• Water  - 1/2 cup

Preparation of Tapeswaram Kaja

• Mix the ghee and rice flour to form a paste  and set aside .also make a syrup with water ,remove from water just before it achieves a single string consistency.
• Now make a small balls out of the dough and make a very thin layer like chapatis make them as thin as possible .
• Cover it and keep it a side for 15 min.
• Make three or four chapatis in the same manner.
• Take one chapati and spread the rice flour  and ghee paste on it keep the second chapati  on the top of it and apply the paste on it .now place third chapati on the top and apply the ghee and rice flour paste.(this means you have to make layers with chapati spreading the rice flour and ghee in between the chapatis)
• Fold it like a mat and roll it.then cut in to 1 inch pieces and lightly roll the pieces  to make them little flat (don't press hard otherwise the inner layer will stick together and they don't open when we fry them in the hot oil).
• Heat oil in a deep frying pan,first heat the oil in high flame then reduce the heat to low and drop the kajas one by one slowly in to the hot oil  .please be careful kajas droped in to oil keep your hand safe.fry the kajas till they turn to golden color in a low heat.we have to observe the layers in this time.
• When they turn to  a nice golden color ,remove them from the oil and drop the kajas immediately in to the sugar syrup .let them rest  the kajas for 5 min in sugar syrup and finally remove them from the sugar syrup.
• To make sugar syrup is easy to take a pan and add sugar and water keep it on stove for 10 mins after sugar is completely dissolve add cardamom powder and  we get a thick consistency syrup.
• Transfer the kajas in to the plate and garnish with almonds and cashews.then hot and sweet juicy Tapeswaram kajas is ready to eat.
• Make sure that you can try this in home and save money definitely you can enjoy the taste.don't worry if u failed in first time u can get better in next time.
• Store these Tapeswaram kajas in air tight container. these kajas will stay for ten days but when eaten fresh they taste wonderful and juicy.