BELE OBBATTU/PURAN POLI/BOBBATTU/POLI/BOLI

Bangalore has been very hot these days. An occasional breeze brings along sweet scent of freshly bloomed jasmines from my garden. Mixed thoughts cross my mind and an effortless smile crosses my face. I start recalling days of my youth - I was newly married, always wanting to prove myself be it stringing jasmine florets, preparing for pooja, decorating the door with toran and rangoli patterns... and finally impress folks at home with my culinary skills. Ugadi was the first festival we celebrated after my wedding. I was a nervous assistant cook to my very skilled mom in law, Her watchful eyes and attention to details would make me break into sweat with a slightest mistake. Thumbs up I got for my obbattu was like getting my second masters from MIL University. As years rolled into decades only memories stay. As an obedient student I remember and follow her guidelines.
Obbattu making is a right case to test the importance of skill, patience, right ingredients, right utensils, skillet, stove, right mood for a successful kitchen experience.
Obbattu alias holige is an integral part of ugadi menu in the state of Karnataka and parts of Andhra Pradesh. Apart from traditional variants of obbattu which have the sweet filling made with coconut, chick pea lentil, pigeon pea lentil, many avatars have inundated the scene - dates, khova, dry friuts, carrot, beet root holige etc.
Bele obbattu is a sweet stuffed flat bread with a filling prepared using pigeon pea lentil, jaggery and coconut grating and is prepared on Ugadi day as a tradition.
  • Let us get started
  • Ease - elaborate - skill acquired with practice
  • Preparation time - 30 min
  • Cooking time - 1 1/2 hours
  • Yield - 12 pieces
Ingredients
For the outer crust (kanaka)
  • Chiroti semolina (fine semolina) - 250 gms
  • All purpose flour - 50 gms
  • Salt - 1 pinch
  • Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
For filling (hoorana)
  • Pigeon pea lentil (Tur dal) - 250 gms
  • Grated coconut - 11/2 cups
  • Powdered jaggery - 2 cups
  • Cardamom powdered - 1/2 tea spoon
  • Ghee/odorless oil - 100 ml
Other requirements
banana leaves / thick butter paper for rolling obbattu
flat tawa/skillet  
Method
Preparation of outer cover (kanaka)-Take semolina, flour, salt, turmeric in a wide basin/ bowl mix well. Add water little by little and prepare a soft dough which is soft and pliable, add 5 spoons of oil/ghee knead well. Cover the dough with a clean wet cloth and keep aside for about 2 -3 hours before making obbattu.
Preparation of filling/Hoorana
Wash and pressure cook pigeon pea lentil with just enough water ( should not be of flowing consistency)
Grate coconut and powder in a mixer grinder into smooth consistency
Grind cooked lentil/dal into a paste (after it cools down)
In a thick bottomed wok take powdered jaggery, coconut paste and ground dal, combine well and cook on slow flame till all the ingredients come together. Jaggery melts. and combines coconut and dal paste. Keep stirring on low heat till syrupy mixture starts drying and starts combining. ( do not dry too much - filling will become powdery )
Add cardamom powder and mix well, keep aside to cool.


Preparation of Obbattu
Make lemon sized balls of filling and crust (cover)
Take the dough, smear some ghee/oil, flatten it on the palm, place filling in the middle, pull dough from the sides and cover the filling evenly from all the sides


Smear 1/4 spoon oil on the lower surface (smooth) of banana leaf, flatten filled dough, drizzle little more oil and roll the dough softly and evenly.


On a preheated tawa/ skillet slowly release the rolled dough and roast to a golden colour on both sides drizzle oil if required.


Serve hot with ghee/boiled cooled milk.

Wait for compliments from happy customers.
Notes/Tips
Roasting on low heat , slowly is very important
While releasing the rolled dough on skillet release a little from a side and quickly pull the leaf/ away other wise leaf will get burnt
As a custom obbattu is folded before removing from the skillet
Do not pile hot obbattu one above the other, they tend to stick to each other. Cool for a while before stacking/storing
This obbattu tastes great with mango puree / aamras ( mavina hannina seekarane)

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