Poli

Poli (Kadalai Paruppu Poli/Puran Poli) is a traditional and popular sweet which we usually prepare for Bhogi and Tamil New year.The stuffing is made of cooked channa dhal and jaggery mixture and the outer covering is made using All purpose flour.

Ingredients:

For the outer cover:
Maida(All purpose flour)	1 ¼ cup
Turmeric powder	A pinch
Salt	A pinch
Gingelly oil	1 tblsp
For the stuffing:
Channa dhal(Bengal gram dhal/Kadalai paruppu)	1 cup
Jaggery	1 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder	1 tsp

Method:

• Take Maida,turmeric powder,salt,gingelly oil in a mixing bowl and mix well.Add water slowly to make a slightly loose dough(Less stiff than chapathi dough).Cover and keep aside for 2 hrs.
• Take channa dhal in a vessel,add water to immerse the dhal and pressure cook.
• Once the pressure releases,drain them well and allow to cool.
• Take the jaggery in a pan,add little water and wait till the jaggery completely dissolves.Now strain them using a metal strainer and keep aside.
• Grind the drained channa dhal to a fine mixture.
• Heat the pan with the strained jaggery liquid and let it boil well for about 3-4 mins.Reduce the flame to low and add the ground channa dhal and mix well with the jaggery mixture.If any small lumps form,mash well using a ladle.Add the cardamom powder and cook in low flame till the mixture comes together and is not sticky.
• Cool and make balls of the dhal mixture.
• Make small balls of the maida mixture too.
• Take a Plantain leaf or aluminium foil,grease it with gingelly oil and place the maida ball and spread it to a small circle using fingers.Place a ball of stuffing at the center and cover it with the maida circle(just as we do for stuffed paratha).
• Gently flatten the ball using the hands to a small circle .
• Heat a tawa, grease it with oil and carefully invert the aluminium foil and slowly peel off the poli and transfer to the tawa.Cook on both sides using little oil or ghee till light brown spots appear on both the sides.
• Drizzle some ghee on the top and serve.

Note:

• Smear oil liberally on your hands to flatten the poli easily.You can use sunflower oil in place of Gingelly oil.I like to use aluminium foil to flatten the poli as its very easy to transfer the poli to the tawa.
• Make the outer covering(maida) ball smaller than the stuffing size.