Boli- My entry for JFI#4-Flour

Bolis are more popular in Thiruvananthapuram(the capital city of Kerala),than anywhere else in Kerala.This soft and scrumptious golden yellow colored pancake is a must in all wedding feasts or other festive occasions.This is usually served along with a ladleful of ‘Palpayasam’.The sweet thin bolis,with a little ghee spread on them,will simply melt into your mouth.And now some history..Brahmins of Karnataka were the first ones to make Bolis ,and when they moved to other cities in pursuit of jobs,they took this art of boli making along with them.Some of them have moved to Kerala also and it is from these immigrant Brahmins,bolis reached the state.

Boli served with Palada

My blog friend Rashmi,has constantly been asking about this Boli recipe.Sorry for the delay Rashmi,but finally I did it.
And here it goes..

Ingredients:-

Bengal Gram (Kadalaparippu) – 2cups
Sugar – 2 cups
Gingelly Oil(Nallenna) -1/2 cup
All Purpose Flour(Maida) – 2 cups
Water – As needed
Nutmeg(Jathikka) powder – 1/4 tsp
Cardamom(Elakka)powder -1/4 tsp
Golden Yellow Food color(Jilebi color) – a pinch (Optional)
Rice Flour – to spread on the board,to prevent it from sticking
Ghee – 1/4 cup

Method:-

Boil gram with plenty of water until it is cooked soft.Strain it well.Again add some more water,boil it and drain.Add sugar and 3 tsp of ghee into the cooked gram,allow it to cook in medium heat.

Gram,Sugar and Ghee on Stove

Stir continuosly until the mixture becomes semi solid.Be carefult,it should not become too hard.Now stir in cardamom powder and nutmeg powder into it.Mix well together and grind it using a mixer.

Gram changed into a semi-solid

The grinding has to be done while it is hot itself.Otherwise,if it becomes cold,the mixture can  harden and makes grinding difficult.
Mix the flour and food color together .Add enough water and make it into a soft dough.Pour gingelly oil into it and knead it well until the dough become very soft.Keep it aside for 1/2 an hour to make it more soft.

Grinded gram and Soft dough

Now make equal number of lemon sized balls with both gram mixture and with the dough.Take a ball made of flour,roll out a little on a floured surface( rice flour is spread on the surface).Keep the gram ball in centre of the rolled dough.

Rolled dough with gram ball inside

Cover the gram completely with the dough as shown in the photograph.

Gram ball is being covered

Now using hand ,press it evenly and make it very smooth.

Smooth dough,with cooked gram inside

Again roll it out as thin as possible.Then heat a griddle and cook the bolis just like we do for chappathis.Apply little ghee on both sides.Keep it in an air tight container and keep it in the refrigeretor when it is cooled.Thus, it can be stored for a week.

Boli getting cooked

Enjoy it with ‘PalPayasam’.

Boli served with Payasam

And this is my first entry to JFI#4-“Flour” hosted by Santhi.