India Unlimited - All Things Indian

I was going through all the new year emails. Suddenly, I realized its time to put up Kalnirnay for the  new year. Kalnrinay has been my monthly guide for so many things, doctor's appointment, starting dates for kids classes. Each page filled with various notes and also, the festivals of each month. Jan 14th , Makar sankranti Day.  Makar sankrati is one of the few Indian festivals which falls on the same day every year i.e. on 14th Jan.
Makar Sankranti is a festival of kites. I remember those days when we used to go to all the neighbors with til-gul bowl and greet them saying, "Til-gul ghya,god god bola." After coming to the US, I tried to make til laddos but..... I just couldn't do it. One year the laddos were so hard, my husband said he will have to use his hammer to break them and the next year the laddoos became very chewy. So I decided to discontinue my efforts completely. My mom suggested,to try out making Gulachi poli? I did follow through on her suggestion and guess what, it did work. I made gulachi poli and it came out nice. My kids and husband loved this gulachi poli. I would like to share this recipe with you all and hope you like it too.

Gul Poli / Til Poli

Ingredients for the stuffing:

• 3 cups grated Jaggery (prefer Indian Kolhapuri jaggery)


• 1 cup Sesame seed powder


• 1 cup roasted dry coconut(can use the shredded dry coconut)


• 1 cup besan


• 1/2 tea spoon cardamom powder (or as per your taste)


• 1/4 tea spoon nutmeg powder (or as per your taste)


• 3 Table spoon ghee to roast besan


• Ghee for serving

Ingredients for the dough:

• 1 cup maida


• 1 cup wheat flour (atta)


• 1 tea-spoon oil

How to make

• Roast Sesame seed on a low gas. Let it cool completely and then  grind it into a powder. It should be a dry powder. (do not grind a lot as Sesame seed releases oil and powder will become sticky)


• Grate the jaggery. I generally use the big block of Kolhapuri jaggery and slice it with Chef's Knife. Slice it very thin and then crumble those slices. Try to avoid  lumps as the lumps tears the poli while rolling and the stuffing comes out. Cutting the Jaggery block is little difficult part. Get your hubbies involved here, they can be very helpful in this process.


• Roast the dry coconut till it becomes little pink.(I prefer to use the grated dry coconut available in the Indian grocery store. That works perfect.) Let it cool and crumble it with hands till it becomes powder.


• Roast the besan with 3 tablespoon ghee on a slow gas until it changes the color.


• Mix Sesame seed powder, jaggery, dry coconut powder, besan, cardamom powder and nutmeg powder properly. The stuffing is ready.


• Mix maida and atta,1 tablespoon oil,water and a pinch of salt and make a dough, knead the dough well.


• Then press  and keep the dough in a vessel. Slightly touch the dough with light oil. Keep aside for 2/3 hours.


• Take a small lime size dough. Make small circular chappati and put 1-1/2 tb. spoon stuffing on it. Close it from all sides so  that the stuffing is covered completely. roll out each poli like a chappati of 7-8 inches gently. Flour it with maida, while rolling it. Cook it on hot tava, on both sides, without ghee/oil.


• Serve it with ghee and Ground Nut/ Sesame seed Chutney (something spicy with sweet poli)

Tips
Stuffing can be made in advance and it stays nice for 3-4 months in the refrigerator.