Poli

Poli is a traditional sweet dish made by our family during the Bhogi function. I am not an expert in making polis, but have improved over the years.

Poli Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour/Maida	1 Cup
Thenga (Coconut) Pooranam	As needed
Ghee	2 Tsp
Water	¼ Cup
Oil	2 Tsp

Thenga Pooranam (this is the stuffing for Poli) ingredients and the method of making this stuffing is explained below. The method of making Poli with thenga pooranam is explained at the very end.

Thenga Pooranam Ingredients:

Jaggery	½ Cup
Desiccated Coconut	1 Cup
Salt	½ Tsp
Cardamom powder	¼ Tsp

Making Thenga Pooranam:

Mix the Jaggery and Coconut by hand. Take a heavy bottomed pan.  Add ghee and the jaggery-coconut mixture to the pan. Cook it on the medium flame for 5 minutes until the mixture comes together homogeneously. Add cardamom powder. Transfer the content to a dry air-tight container. The pooranam could be refrigerated for 10-12 days.

Making Poli:

Mix flour, salt and water. Keep kneading the dough for at least 10 minutes to make dough soft. Finally add oil to the dough so that it does not dry out. Keep aside covered for 10 minutes.

Make equal sized ball of dough and the thenga pooranam. Use a banana leaf or a wax paper to flatten the dough. Flatten the dough ball to a thick circle. Keep the thenga pooranam inside the middle of the flattened dough, and form a ball by closing the dough.

Flatten the dough-pooranam ball/mixture again with your fingers. Flatten the mixture carefully such that pooranam doesn't come out. Form a thin flattened mixture like a chappathi (as shown in the image).

Heat a skillet, and the transfer the flattened mixture upside down so that it gets transferred to the tawa. Cook until golden brown spots appear on both sides. Use ghee while cooking.

Enjoy hot home-made Poli!