GUL POLI

Makart Sankrant Special GUL POLI

The Makar Sankranti festival is celebrated in the mid winter in India, the food prepared for this festival is such that it keeps the body warm and gives high energy. Hence til(sesame seeds) and gul(jaggery, brown sugar) are basically used in the preparation of sweets for this festival. The recipe details of gul poli are as below.

Ingredients:For dough:Plain flour(Maida) , 1/2 cupWheat flour (Atta) , 1/2 cup2 tbsp cooking oil, luke warm water, a pinch of salt

For filling:Jaggery : 1 and 1/2 cup, Sesame seeds: 4 tspn, Gram flour: 3 tbspn, Cardamom powder: 1 tspn, Nutmeg powder: 1 tspn, Cashewnuts : 4-5, Almonds: 1-2, Ghee for roasting.

Method:Dough preparation:1) Sieve the flours so as to avoid lumps .2) Mix the flours. Prepare a hollow space in the center to put oil.3) Heat oil and add it to the flour.4) Mix hot oil with flour using a spoon.5) Add a pinch of salt.6) Add luke warm water and make a soft dough.7) Leave aside covered by wet cloth for 2 hrs.

Filling preparation:1) If the jaggery is soft, break it in small lumps by hand. If hard, just grate it.2) Roast sesame seeds and gram flour separately.3) Grind sesame seeds, cashews and almonds together to a smooth paste.4) Mix Jaggery, gram flour, ground paste, cardamom powder and nutmeg powder.5) Make 4-5 small balls about one inch diameter for filling.

Steps for Gulpoli:

1) Knead the dough well. Make 4-5 equal parts of dough, nearly same size as dough for chapati.

2) Roll th dough on rolling board till it becomes 3-4 inch in diamater.

3) Place a ball of filling in the center and close it by getting the edges together at top. Take care not to let the filling come out.

4) With the use of flour, just press the dough by both palms so as to equally spread the filling inside towards the edges as well.

5) Using flour, roll it to nearly 7-8 inches in diameter.

6) Heat the frying pan and put some ghee.

7) Roast the gulpoli on the frying pan on both sides using ghee till it turns brownish.

8) Serve hot with ghee or eat crispy gulpoli.