Poli / Obbattu

Diwali  is just around the corner. And everyone would have started planning their list of sweets and snacks to be prepared. Here I am with a recipe of Poli (in Kerala) or Obbattu (in Karnataka).
In Karnataka, This sweet is usually prepared on festival days like Ugadi, Vara Maha Lakshmi Vrata and Diwali. On the other side It will be hard   to think about a marriage feast in the Thiruvananthapuram region of Kerala without poli and payasam.

 

Now this is the first time I am trying out Poli. I heard this is also called as Puran Poli and in Palakkad side iyer families this is called upputtu. The funny thing is in Karnataka Uppittu is actually Upma. Well my hubby after eating this was explaining to his friend about this dish and his friend has not heard the word poli or obbattu. My hubby said "well in aaloo paratha remove the aaloo and have a sweet filling - thats it". What a tag line for Poli!!! 

I also saw recipes where the ingredients for the filling differs. In karnataka people use only toor dal whereas in Kerala channa dal is used. In, Andhra, pasi paruppu is used. Well I used a mixture of toor dal and channa dal.

Ingredients:

For the filling:

Toor dal - 1/2 cup - 125 grams

Channa dal - 1/2 cup - 125 grams

Jaggery - 1 cup - 225 grams

cardamom powder - 10 grams

nutmeg powder - 5 grams

For the dough / outer layer:

Maida - 3/4 cup - 200 grams

Fine rava - 1/2 cup - 100 grams

Turmeric powder - 5 grams

Salt - to taste 

Oil -  preferably gingelly oil

Ghee - 150 grams

Method:

For the dough:

•  I didn't have fine rava. So I powdered the rava and used it.
• Sieve maida, fine rava, turmeric and salt together.
• Make a soft dough using water. The consistency should be that of chapathi dough.
• Transfer the dough to a utensil. Add water to it, so that the dough is immersed in the water completely.
• Keep aside for two to three hours.
• After about 3 hours Drain the water completely from the dough.
• Add 4-6 tablespoons of oil. Knead the dough, using your fingers till the dough becomes soft. When you pull-up small quantity of the dough, it should stretch without breaking. If it does not stretch, add little oil and knead again. The dough should look similar to that of a parotta dough now.
• Smear the dough with little oil. Cover with a bowl upside down. Keep aside for at least one hour.

For the filling:

• Wash toor dal and channa dal. Add about four cups of water, two pinches of turmeric and 1 teaspoon of oil. Cook till the dal is just tender. Do not cook till the dal is soft.
• The toor dal and channa dal would have different levels of cooking time. So cook thm separately for best results.
• Separate the water from the dal, using a strainer. Keep aside the water to make sambar or rasam.
• Break the jaggery into small pieces. Fry the jaggery pieces and  the cooked dal in a thick-bottomed kadai. After few minutes, turn the flame to low and keep mixing.  Otherwise, the mixture will get burnt quickly
• First, the mix becomes little watery. After sometime it becomes thick.
• Add cardamom powder and nutmeg powder. Mix. Switch off the stove. 
• Grind this mixture to a paste. The filling is ready.

The polis:

• Make lemon-sized balls from the filling and the dough.
• The traditional ways is to take a plaintain leaf and on the outer side (the side which is plain) apply some oil. take a dough ball and spread the dough to the size of poori.
• Place one ball of the filing in the center of the dough. Cover the filling completely with the dough, by lifting its edges and placing them on the top of the filling.
• Reverse the dough and press it lightly.
• Spread the dough into a thin chapathi, using your fingers or a rolling pin.
• Instead of plaintain leaf we can also use a butter paper.
• I have a chapathi press which I generally use for making pooris and pathiris. I made this poli with the help of that press and my life was easy...
• Heat a tawa. Spread little ghee.
• Reverse the plaintain leaf/butter paper which has the uncooked poli and place it on the tawa, so the poli will be placed directly on the tawa. Remove the plaintain leaf/butter paper.
• Wait for 1-2 minutes. When the poli color changes, sprinkle few drops of ghee and flip the poli. Cook till both sides are cooked well.
• I used a iron tawa so I always had the heat on minimum.

Poli / Obbattu is ready. Serve this with a teaspoon of ghee spread on the Poli.

Mango Halwa

Yup I am posting after a very looooooooooong time. Life is very hectic these days.... I am not finding time for blogging... And yes when there are numerous priorities, blogging takes the last one...

Now that I am posting after a long break I thought of starting with a sweet. Here comes mango halwa. Though the mango season is over, I still find mangoes in the market and do we need a reason to take home this king of fruits? Well I made this for the first time. It was simply delicious and very easy to prepare with very few ingredients... The inspiration was ofcourse from the blogging world.

Ingredients:

Mango Pulp - taken from 1.5 kgs of mangoes
Sugar - 250 grams
Ghee -  5 tablespoons
Cardamom powder - a pinch

Method:

• I took the mango pulp from a mango available in the name of "sendhooram". Its a nice pink and yellow colour on the outside.
• In a non stick kadai, Heat 2 tablespoon of ghee and add the mango pulp and sugar.
• Simmer for around 30 minutes stirring once every 10 minutes.
• Add the remaining ghee little by little and simmer for another 20- 30 minutes until the whole mixture changes color and becomes glossy
• Switch off the flame and pour the halwa into a greased plate
• Allow it to set for 2 hrs and then cut it into desired shapes

Note:

• There is no food color added. The color should change by itself to dark
• We can also add cashews, raisins etc.... to make it more flavourful.

Paav Bhaji

 Paav Bhaji is the most famous street food that you can see in almost every street in Mumbai. Go to any street fast food, paav bhaji is sure to stand out as a main item in the chaat menu. Spiced up potatoes and vegetables, simmered in butter and some spices, served with pav buns has been a favorite road side food for many many decades.

In Mumbai households I have seen that houses receive one pack of Paav everyday along with a bottle of milk and the morning newspaper. So paav is part of everyday meal over there just like idli/dosa for the Tamil people I guess. Paav means "a small bun", while Bhaaji means "vegetable". Paav Bhaji is so wholesome you can have it as a meal.




Ingredients:

• Potatoes,boiled and mashed 4 medium
• Tomatoes,chopped 4 medium
• Onions,chopped         2 medium
• Carrots,chopped,boiled       1 medium
• Green capsicum,chopped deseeded 1 medium
• Green peas,shelled, boiled 1/4 cup
• Ginger-garlic paste       1 tablespoon
• Cumin seeds         1 teaspoon
• Oil 3 tablespoons
• Green chillies,chopped 3-4
• Pav bhaji masala 1 1/2 tablespoons
• Salt to taste
• Butter 3 tablespoons
• Pav 8
• Fresh coriander leaves,chopped 1/4 cup
• Lemons,cut into wedges 2

Method:

For the bhaji:

Heat the butter and oil in a kadhai and add the cumin seeds.
When the seeds crackle, add the chilli-garlic paste and green chilliesand sauté on a medium flame for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add 3/4th chopped onions and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, while stirring occasionally.
Add the capsicum and sauté for 1 more minute.
Add the tomatoes and carrots and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, mash well using a potato masher.
Add the salt, pav bhaji masala, chilli powder and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the green peas, potatoes, mix well and cook along with 1/3 cup of water for 1 to 2 minutes, while mashing it with the help of a masher.
Add the coriander, mix well and cook for 1 minute.

For the pav:

Slit 2 pavs vertically and keep aside.

Heat a large tava, add 2 tsp of butter and slit open the pavs and place on it.

Cook on a medium flame till they turn light brown and crisp on both the sides. (add more butter if required).

How to serve:

Place ¼th of hot bhaji, 2 pavs, ¼ cup of onions, a lemon wedge and a papad on a plate.

Top the bhaji with 1 tsp of butter and serve immediately garnished with 1 tsp of coriander.