Stuffed sweet flat bread / Puran Poli ( போளி )

Stuffed sweet flat bread / Puran Poli 

( இனிப்பு போளி )

Ingredients:

Plain flour / Maida ( மைதா )  -  2 1/2 cups

Cooking oil / Refined oil  ( எண்ணெய் )  - 1 cup

Bengal gram / Channa Dhal ( கடலை பருப்பு )  -  1 cup

Jaggery  ( வெல்லம் )  -  1 1/2 to 2 cups ( based on one' preference)

Powdered Cardamom seeds ( ஏலக்காய் தூள் ) -  2 tsp

Steps:

Take the plain flour in a wide large bowl like a basin. For this quantity of flour, you may need 1 cup of water and 1 cup of oil. Mix both water and oil, add it to the flour slowly and mix well. 

Depending on the flour texture you may need another quarter to half a cup of water. The dough should be very thin in a flowing consistency. It should neither be firm like chapathi dough nor watery like dosai batter. Maida will absorb water on standing, so dont worry if it looks sticky and watery.

Leave it aside for 30 to 45 minutes. 

Soak Channa dhal in water for minimum 45 minutes.

In a heavy bottom pan, boil 2 cups of water, add the soaked Bengal gram. 

Allow it to boil until it is just cooked not very soft. It shouldn't be over cooked.

Drain and let it cool.

In a blender, add a little of both boiled dhal and jaggery and blend to a fine paste.

Complete with the whole in batches.

In a skillet add the paste, a spoon of ghee and cook on a low flame. Cook for a few minutes, add powdered cardamom and switch off the flame. The filling is ready now.

Once the filling has cooled, take lemon sized portions and roll into balls.

Knead the flour dough again, add one or two spoons of oil if needed.

Pinch a small portion, flatten to just hold a ball of the stuffing.

Cover the ball completely with the dough. Pinch away the excess flour.

On a greased plastic sheet, spread the stuffed ball to a flat round shape.

In a greased hot plate, cook the sweetened flat bread on both sides till golden brown.
Remove, while it is hot spread a few drops of ghee over it and serve.

My Notes:

My Maternal Grandmother is an expertise to prepare this delicacy. I have seen her prepare quite often at my Mother' place

 I remember the first time I had prepared on the eve of deepavali at Chennai in 2000. It was well appreciated by my Parents in law and my Dad. A success on the first attempt . I must have learnt well through those observation from Granny' cooking. :) 

Recently I had prepared the above at my elder sis' house. It was my date of birth and a treat that everyone relished. ;)

My younger sister taught the easier way to coat the maida flour with the sweet stuffing inside. This method was easy, with a uniform coating of the flour. The video will show clearly.

This is one of the recipe that has to be prepared with plain flour, which I normally refrain from using. At least now organic unbleached plain flour is available is a relief.

 I do not use baking soda in  cooking. The flour is softened with the generous amount of oil. After leaving the dough at room temperature for 45 minutes to an hour, you will find the excess oil separating from the dough. 

Boil the dhal in an open vessel. Do not pressure cook. Even with 1 whistle ( less cooking time), it becomes sticky after mixing with jaggery. If the stuffing is sticky you may face difficulties to flatten the poli. I guess its the steam and the pressure built inside the cooker.

The ghee glazed poli when ripped with just 2 fingers from the edge is a soft thin outer layer outside with a crumbly sweet inside is an excellent combination. Yummy..

Before ending this post, I would like to thank my family and friends for encouraging me to keep posting and keeping this blog alive. It is exactly an year ago that I started this blog spot. Celebrating the first year with this sweet post. :)) 

With 4  trips to India this year and other commitments  I am content that I could post close to 60 recipes though the target was 100.

 Hope to strike a century this year :)