Gulachi Poli/Tilgul Poli

EVENT: MEGA BLOGGING MARATHON#92

THEME: A-Z  FLATBREADS AND MORE – INDIAN FLATBREADS

What is Mega Blogging Marathon?

Well, its a group of bloggers who get together to post a dish for 26 days according to the chosen theme. For more details check out the initiator Srivalli’s page here. For this theme we had a choice of 3:

1. A-Z Indian Flatbreads that are not made using batter e.g. like rotis

2. A-Z Indian Flatbreads using batters e.g. dosa

3. A-Z International Flatbreads.

I decided to opt for option number 1. India has such a huge variety of flatbreads to offer that are made on the stove top, in the tandoor, in the oven, under the grill or fried. Its going to be a challenge to look for flatbreads beginning with all the letters of the alphabet as for this group cannot use batter based flatbreads. However, am up for this challenge.

Day 7 and that means already a week is over. Wow, time flies. I still have a few flatbreads to make, still got a few days before I travel and get everything ready. Day 7 is letter G. What comes to your mind when you think of a food item with G, well besides the usual grapes, gourds etc I thought of  nothing!  I know that Girda is a famous flatbread from the state of Kashmir but I couldn’t find a proper recipe for it. The one I found on the internet was a total failure, not to mention the wastage of flour and other ingredients.

When I couldn’t figure out another flatbread with G, I went hunting on blogs of friends I know and just as well I did that. While some blogs are so easy to find recipes, some are not user friendly at all with no categories indexes. Not only did I find my flatbread beginning with G but some other ideas too. So keep checking on my blog for some delicious flatbreads.

G is for Gulachi Poli. I came across the recipe for this so delicious paratha on my friend Poonam’s blog Annapurna. She has a fair share of traditional recipes and if every you’re looking for a recipe for any festival, go to her blog and you’ll find it with step wise method. Gulachi Poli or Tilgul Poli  is a famous Maharashtrian flatbread usually prepared during the festival of Makar Sankranti to offer to God as prasadam. Poonam suggested that this poli can be made earlier and kept for a whole week. Mine didn’t even last till the next day. On cooking the poli the outer dough part turns crispy and the inner part is a sweet and soft delicious almagation of flavors. An apt preparation for Makar Sankranti as its got both the main ingredients gur (jaggery) and til (sesame seeds).

I made 8 polis, shared 4 with my neighbors, 2 with my maid for her kids and left 2 for us. I cut them into quarters and hubby tasted only one quarter. In the evening I wanted to have some and I found the container in which I had stored it in, empty! I guess he loved it 🙂

GULACHI POLI /TILGUL POLI

Makes 8

Recipe source: Annapurna

For the dough:

1½ cups wheat flour

½ cup plain flour (all purpose flour)

2½ tbsp besan flour ( chana flour, chickpea flour)

a generous pinch of salt

2-3 tbsp ghee or oil

1 -1¼ cups water

For the filling:

1 cup grated or powdered jaggery (gur)

½ cup  sesame seeds (til, tal)

¼ cup poppy seeds (khus khus)

¼ cup dry shredded coconut

1 tsp cardamom powder (leach)

1 tsp nutmeg powder (jaiphal)

1 tbsp ghee

2½ tbsp besan flour (chickpea or chana flour0

1-2 tbsp milk

extra flour

extra ghee for roasting poli

Preparation of the dough:

1. Mix all three flours and salt in a bowl.
2. Add ghee or oil and rub it into the flour.
3. Add water little at a time and start bringing the flour together to form a soft pliable dough.
4. Shape the dough into a ball, it with oil or ghee, cover and let it rest for 20-25 minutes.

 

Preparation of the filling:

1. Heat a wide pan over low heat. Roast the sesame seeds till they begin to pop.Keep stirring them all the time. Transfer the seeds to a plate.
2. Next roast the poppy seeds in the same manner till they begin to pop. Add it to the sesame seeds.
3. Roast the coconut till it gives out a pleasant aroma. Transfer it to another plate to cool.
4. Heat the measured ghee in the pan.
5. Add besan and roast it till it begins to turn light pink in colour.
6. Transfer the roasted flour to a big bowl.
7. Take the sesame and poppy seed mixture and grind it into a coarse powder.
8. Add the mixture to the roasted besan.
9. Add the coconut, cardamom and nutmeg powders and the jaggery to the above mixture.
10. Try and bring the mixture together and form a dough.
11. If that does not happen add a tbsp of milk. If the mixture is still dry then add another tbsp of milk.
12. Form the dough and knead well.

 

Preparation of the poli:

1. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts.
2. Divide the mixture into 8 equal parts and roll into balls.
3. Heat a tawa or a frying pan over medium heat.
4. Roll one part of the dough into a 3 inch circle using some flour so that the dough does not stick to the rolling board.
5. Place one ball of the filling on the circle. Gather up the edges towards the centre and seal.
6. Press the stuffed poli a little between your palms.
7. Using some flour gently roll the poli into a circle of about 6-7 inches.
8. Put it on the hot tawa and let it roast for 1-2 minutes.
9. Flip it over and roast for 1-2 minutes.
10. Smear ghee over the poli, flip it and press gently with a spatula and roast till brown spots appears.
11. Flip it over, smear little ghee and press gently and roast till brown spots appear.
12. Cool the poli on a wire rack.
13. Repeat steps 4 to 12 using the remaining dough and filling.
14. Serve warm or cold polis with extra ghee to dip in. Hot ones will burn your tongue!

 

Tips:

• You can use desiccated coconut for this recipe but I preferred to grate the coconut, dried it in the oven at very low temperature and then used it.
• The amount of milk required to form the dough for the filling will depend on how soft the jaggery is. You must grate it powder it completely.
• You can store polis in an airtight container for several days.

 

A little request:

If you do try this recipe then please either

• add a comment below,
• send a picture to my email mayuri.ajay.patel62@gmail.com
•  tag me as #mayuri_jikoni on Instagram
• or tag me on Twitter as #Mayuri1962

 

You may want to check out what flatbreads I’ve made so far for this event:

A for Akki Roti

B for Bhakri

C for Chousela

D for Dalpuri

E for Ekadashi Thalipeeth

F for Fungawela Mag na Paratha/Sprouted Bean Parathas

 

Check out what other Blogging Marathoners have made:

Sending this recipe to the following event: