Sweet Poli - Stuffed with Coconut and Dhal in Jaggery

இனிப்பு பருப்பு/தேங்காய் போளி  

Drizzling ghee on poli as they come out of the stove and letting the ghee to melt itself on the hot poli.. brings the best aroma of ghee - that extra special finishing touch on poli! 😋

Poli is an Indian sweet which is traditionally made with coconut or bengal gram and jaggery. In some store bought polis, they use sugar instead of jaggery. But this is not as flavourful as the ones made with jaggery. I made this for the Ugadi - Telugu New Year. 

Since the whole country is in total lock down for Corona virus, we are staying in our homes all day long and hence its been like our days are long and boring. So for this year's Ugadi, I tried sweet poli.

Poli is either made with coconut or bengal dhal and jaggery. This time I made poli with both dhal and coconut gratings with jaggery. When talking about sweet stuffing, you have lot of choice if you trigger you imagination a little. Soaking the all purpose flour dough for a minimum of 1 hr, gives a soft poli.

Okay, now lets make poli.

Ingredients:

• all purpose flour or maida
• salt
• oil
• water
• turmeric powder

For stuffing:

• bengal gram dhal
• coconut gratings
• jaggery - double or little less the quantity of bengal gram
• cardamom powder - optional
• ghee - few spoons
• water

Procedure:

For the covering dough:

• Add a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of oil to 2 cups of all purpose flour. 
• Mix well. 
• Add water to this and knead to make a loose dough. looser than a chapathi or parotta dough. 
• Cover it and let this rest for a minimum of 1 hour.

For the sweet stuffing:

• Soak the bengal gram in water for at least 2 hours.
• Add enough water and cook it in pressure cooker or stove top till it is well cooked but not mushy.
• Drain the excess water and mash it well.
• Take little coconut grating (i take equal quantity as dhal before cooking. you an take more or less).
• Dissolve the jaggery in little water and strain it.
• Now add the mashed dhal and coconut grating to this and keep stirring till the entire sweet content comes together. this might be little sticky right now when it is still hot. but once it cools down it will thicken up.
• Let the sweet stuffing cool down.
• Make balls of the stuffing and keep ready.
• Grease a polythene sheet. pinch off a portion of the dough.spread this a little with greased hands and keep the stuffing inside and cover it like you do for modagam kozhukattai.
• Dip you hands in oil and spread this into required size and thickness .
• Transfer this carefully to a hot tawa and cook it both side with ghee + oil or only ghee.
• The awesome sweet-o-licious coconut and dhal poli is ready to be served warm. few drops of ghee while serving will make it even more special and tastier.

Tips: 

1. As you keep making the poli, never pile it up when it is still hot. it will stick with each other. so, wait till it cools. then transfer this to a airtight container to store it. 
2. Definitely let the dough sit for at least 1 hour for soft poli.
3. The turmeric in the dough is just to give the beautiful golden colour and moreover adding a pinch of turmeric powder is never a mistake to any dish.
4. I would rather recommend to use ghee + oil while roasting the poli on tawa. when you add only ghee while making poli, that would result in little tight poli when consumed next day. and drizzling ghee on hot poli as they come out of the stove and letting the ghee melt in the heat of the poli.. brings the best aroma of ghee on poli.
5. You can store the stuffing in refrigerator for few more weeks and make it again when you feel "i-want-to-eat-poli-now". 

Happy cooking !!