Bobbatlu (Puran Poli)

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 2/ Day 6
Theme: Traditional dishes
Dish: Bobbatlu (Puran Poli)

I made bobbatlu on Ugadhi day. This is my first attempt at making these traditional sweet stuffed breads and they turned out pretty good - soft and delicious. I believe in mass production, as in making burfis or halwas, I'm not a big fan of hand crafting individual pieces. But I took the leap and decided to make bobbatlu and I'm really glad that I did. It was kind of a confidence booster because they came out much better than I had imagined.

Traditionally bobbatlu are made with all purpose flour (maida), but since I always like to sneak in some fiber and a little nutrition in the form of wholewheat flour, I added ½ cup of atta (wholewheat flour) and 1 cup of AP flour. May be next time I will add more atta to make it even more nutritious.

Most of the recipes I saw online for bobbatlu used jaggery for the stuffing, but we are used to sugar in the stuffing, so that is what I used too. I also added some grated fresh coconut. My mom's sister (Peddamma) makes excellent bobbatlu and while making I was thinking and trying to remember how she used to make them. So thank you Peddamma for the inspiration.

Ingredients: Makes 12-14

For the Dough:

All purpose flour - 1cup

Atta (wholewheat flour) - ½ cup

Salt - a pinch

Ghee - 2tsp and more for making bobbatlu

For the Stuffing:

Chana dal (Indian yellow split peas)- 2/3 cup
Sugar - 2/3 cup
Grated coconut - ½cup (I used frozen coconut that I thawed)
Ground Cardamom - ½tsp

Method:

• Make the dough: Mix all the ingredients for the dough; add water as needed to make a very soft and pliable dough. Dough should be softer than roti dough; knead well so it gets glossy. Make sure it is not too sticky. Rest the dough covered for 1 hour.
• For the Stuffing: Soak chana dal for 30 minutes, then pressure cook until very soft. Drain the water (reserve this water to make pulusu/ pappu) and let it dry for 10 minutes. Then grind it to a smooth paste. Remove into a bowl and add sugar; mix well.
• Add the chana dal mixture to a nonstick pan and cook on medium flame for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the mixture starts to leave the pan. Add ground cardamom and mix well. Cool the mixture and divide it into 12-14 equal size balls.
• To make Bobbatlu: Knead the dough well couple of times and divide it into 12-14 equal size balls. Flatten a ball into a small disc. Place the stuffing in the center and pull the dough to cover it. Place this on a lightly ghee greased aluminum foil and using fingers spread it out into a 6" round disc. Make sure it has even thickness.
• Cook bobbatlu on medium flame until light brown spots form on both sides. Add some ghee while cooking for added flavor. 
• Remove and keep covered. Repeat for the rest of the bobbatlu.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 27.