Bajiya

No. Bajiya is not Samosa. Its an authentic Maldivian short eat that doesn't quite taste the same everywhere. The recipe below is one of the variants of Bajiya that is extremely popular and extremely delicious to eat! The recipes are usually passed on through generations and this particular recipe has also been through the same. However, the recipe has been adapted to make it easier for the modern woman (or  even man) to make! Enjoy!

Things you need for the dough:

• 2 cups of fine wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt to taste
• 2 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup Pastry glue made by mixing 2 parts fine wheat flour and 1 part water.

Things you need for the filling:

• 1 tin of tuna chunks in oil
• 2 regular sized onions cut into thin slices
• 2 garlic cloves crushed and chopped
• 3 Thai Pepper Chillies chopped  or if you prefer to use Scotch Bonnet use a little bit according to your needs
• 1/4 teaspoon of Ginger Paste
• 10grams of Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Chilli Power
• 1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric Poweder
• 1/2 Tablespoon of Curry Powder 
• Salt to Taste

Preparation of the dough and sheets:

 

First put flour in a mixing bowl and make a depression in the center using a spoon and pour the vegetable oil into the depression and sprinkle salt over the flour.

With a wooden spoon mix the flour, vegetable oil and salt together.

Pour in the hot water. This is an important step as too much water can completely ruin the sheets that you are going to make and too little water will make the dough difficult to roll as it will turn out too dry and hard. Mix with the wooden spoon as you pour the hot water.

Knead the dough for approximately 5 to 7 minutes until the it becomes soft.

Then shape the dough into balls the size of a large walnut.

After you are done, using a rolling pin and board roll out each of the balls into thin circular sheets. This can be made easier if you dust the rolling board with flour throughout.

Next, heat an empty frying pan for 5 minutes and place the circular sheet in it. Heat for approximately 1 minute each side on low heat. The purpose is not to heat the sheets until they turn out like Roti's or Chappatti's but to slightly heat them until they are not raw anymore.

Repeat until you are done with all the sheets.

Next place all the sheets that you've made on the rolling board one on top of eachother, all completely aligned. Using a knife cut  the stack of sheets so that each sheet makes 4 equal quarters.

When you are done place the quarter sheets all in one plastic bag or cover them in food wrap.

Preparation of the filling:

Put the onions, chillies, garlic and ginger into a mixing bowl.

Add salt, curry powder, Chilli Powder and Turmeric Powder and mix together.

Next add the tuna chunks (oil drained) and mix well.

Finally add sugar and mix evenly.

Preparation of the Bajiya:

The preparation of a Bajiya involves you making a cone out of the quarter sheets that you made before. The steps that involve are shown in the pictures below:

1) Place the sheet on a flat surface and apply pastry glue using a cotton bud / your finger tip on the lower edge of the sheet; starting from the center towards the left as show below.

2) Next fold the right corner inwards as shown.

3) As shown stick the two sides together to form a cone

4) Fill the cone with 1 table spoon of filling and apply pastry glue on the remaining side as shown.

 5) Fold the remaining side of the cone downwards and stick.

Repeat the above steps until you make your desired number of Bajiyas. After you are done deep fry the Bajiya's in vegetable oil in a large frying pan until they turn golden brown. This usually takes 5 to 7 minutes per batch.
Enjoy!