Holige
or Obbattu (aka Pooranpoli in Maharashtra) is the quintessential
sweet dish made during some of the Indian festivals. It's a must in our
house for Ugadi, Dasara and deepavali. It's one of my favorite sweets,
it can be eaten hot with ghee or cold with milk. There is a by product
while making this dish. The water left from cooking the dal is retained
to make a very delicious kattina Saru (rasam) along with a tad bit of
hurna(the sweet mixture stuffed inside the holige). I was always more
interested in this spicy, tangy rasam than holige itself . Here is my
mother's holige recipe, I follow these measurements to T and always get
perfectly done holige. It yields about 12 medium sized holige. Adjust
the quantity according to your requirement.
Ingredients:
Split Bengal gram : 250 gms
Jaggery: 250 gms
All purpose flour/whole wheat flour: 250 gms
Salt: 1/8 tsp
Oil: 1 tbsp
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Cardamom powder: 1 tbsp
Oil/Ghee: for cooking/basting
Method:
1.
Take the flour in a mixing bowl and add turmeric and salt. Knead with a
little water and make a soft dough (a little stiffer than chapathi
dough). Apply a little oil and keep it covered until needed.
2. Pressure cook the split Bengal gram for 5-6 whistles, once the pressure is released strain the water.
3.
In a heavy bottomed pan mix jaggery, cooked Bengal gram and cardamom
powder. Cook until the jaggery melts and the whole mixture thickens. Let
it cool.
4.
Put the jaggery and Bengal gram mixture into a grinder/mixer and grind
it so that there are no lumps left. Divide into 12 balls of equal size.
5.
Take the rested dough and knead well, make 12 equal sized balls (about
the size of a lemon) and roll into a small circle, place the sweet
mixture in the center and pull the sides of the rolled dough and cover
it up.
6. Roll into a small sized roti with light hands.
7. Place on the hot griddle and cook on both sides. Baste with ghee.
8. Serve it hot with a big dollop of ghee and enjoy!
