My 107th recipe, "Bobbatlu/Holige/Obbattu/Puran Poli/Pooran Poli", a Ugadi special dish.Happy Ugadi, Yugadi and Gudi Padwa to my dear friends !!! Ugadi/Yugadi/Gudi Padwa is the New Year's Day for the people of the Deccan region of India. It is celebrated with great fanfare among people from Andhra, Karnataka, Maharashtra and few other adjoining states.'Yuga' is the word for 'era', and 'ādi' stands for 'the beginning' in Sanskrit. Yugadi simple means a beginning of a new era or year. Since I try to embrace all cultures and festivals after starting the food blog, I was thinking about what dish to post on this special day.

When I read that bobbatlu is traditionally prepared on this day along with other sweet and savory dishes, I immediately wanted to prepare it. Bobbatlu is nothing but a sweet stuffed Indian bread. While the dough can be made from all purpose flour, wheat flour, semolina, etc., the stuffing can vary from toor dal to chana dal to coconut and each region has its own variation and name to this dish. It is called as Bobbatlu in Andhra, Holige/Obbattu in Karnataka, Puran Poli/Pooran Poli in Maharashtra and simply Boli in Tamil Nadu. Though there are slight variations, the basic concept and flavors remain the same, a perfect example of unity among diversity 😉

Bobbatlu / Holige / Obbattu / Puran Poli / Pooran Poli

Bobbatlu

Revathi Palani

Bobbatlu | Puran Poli is a sweet stuffed Indian Bread made on the day of Ugadi. The stuffing can be anything from toor dal to chana dal to coconut.

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Total Time 1

Course Dessert

Cuisine Indian

Servings 12

Ingredients

Ghee - For cooking

For stuffing/Pooran

½ Cup Chana dal
¾ Cup Jaggery
½ Cup Water (Adjust as needed)
½ tsp Cardamom powder

For Dough

1 ½ Cup All purpose flour | Maida
1 ½ Tbsp Rava | Semolina
1 Tbsp Rice flour (optional)
a pinch Salt
½ tsp Turmeric (optional)
3 Tbsp Butter
½ Cup Water (Adjust as needed)

Instructions

First wash and pressure cook the dal with sufficient amount of water for about 3 whistle or until they are done.
While the dal is cooking we can start with the dough. First melt the butter in low flame, but do not brown it. Take a mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients listed under "For dough". Add 2 Tbsp of melted butter to the dry ingredients and mix well to get combined. Now add water little by little to get a smooth and slight sticky dough. I needed about ½ cup of water for the desired consistency. Finally add the remaining butter and knead to get a smooth and elastic dough. Keep it covered for 15 minutes.
 <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-2.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-1.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-3.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-4.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-5.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-6.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" />
By now the dal would have cooked. Wait until the pressure subsides from the cooker, then remove the dal and immediately drain the excess water and transfer the dal to a plate and let it get cooled down to room temperature. Now grind it in a mixie until smooth without adding any water.
 <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-7.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-8.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-9.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-10.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" />
Now heat a pan, add this ground dal along with jaggery and mix them well in low-medium flame until the jaggery melts and the mixture becomes wet. With some jaggery, it would not melt enough to make the mixture wet. In that case, add ½ Cup of water and mix until the mixture becomes smooth and you should be able to make a ball. Add the cardamom powder, mix well and turn off the flame. Let the stuffing cool down until you can handle it with hands. Then divide the mixture and make equal sized balls.
 <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-11.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-12.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-13.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-131.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-14.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-15.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" />
Now will start with preparing the bobbatlu. Take the dough, knead it slightly and divide it into equal sized balls. Size of the dough ball should be smaller than the prepared stuffing ball. Now take a flat plate or butter paper/banana leaf/foil on a flat surface, grease with ghee or butter. Place one dough ball over it and just flatten it into a small circle using your fingers. Place one pooran ball at the center and just cover the filling by pulling the dough over it. Remove if there is any extra dough. Now roll it in between your palms to form a ball.
 <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-16.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-17.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-18.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-19.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-20.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-21.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" />
Again place them over the greased plate and just flatten them with your fingers into a thin circle which should be thicker than roti. Make sure that the stuffing doesn't come out of the outer dough layer. You would be able to see the stuffing under the thin dough outer which is the correct thickness.
 <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-22.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-23.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" />
Now heat the tawa, grease with ghee and cook the prepared bobbatlu in medium flame until slight golden brown on both sides by flipping them at regular intervals. Drizzle some ghee over it and to its sides while cooking. Transfer to a serving plate. Repeat the same for other divided dough and pooran.
 <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-24.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-25.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-26.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bob-27.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="48%" />
Enjoy hot.
 <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bobbatlu-1.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="100%" /> <img src="https://revi.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bobbatlu-22.jpg" alt="bobbatlu" width="100%" />

Notes | FAQ

- Vegans can use oil instead of butter and ghee, but you have to compromise on the extra flavor.

- Adding butter to the dough will get you a super soft outer layer.

- Instead of adding jaggery directly to the dal, you can also melt it in ½ cup of water and then filter it out to remove impurities. Then you can add the jaggery syrup to the dal.