Gul Poli

Gul Poli

Gul Poli is a traditional Maharashtrian sweet dish, made around the time of Makar Sankrant. 

It is a thin, crispy roti filled with jaggery (gul) and gram flour mix. I like it best when it is fresh and warm, served with a dollop of ghee.

I make it in 2 ways depending how crisp I want it. My dad can only eat soft foods, hence I make it as soft as I can for him.

Here's how I make Gul Poli (crispy version):

Stuffing - 1/2 cup grated jaggery (gul), 2 tbsp gram flour, 2  tbsp sesame seeds, 1 tsp poppy seeds (khus khus), 1/2 tsp cardamon pwd, 1/2 tsp nutmeg pwd.

Microwave the poppy seeds at 30 sec intervals for 1 min. stirring in between.

Microwave the sesame seeds at 30 sec intervals for 2 mins, stirring in between.

Cool both, then grind coarsely.

Microwave the gram flour at 30 sec intervals for 2 to 3 mins stirring in between.

Microwave the gul for 1 min or so until melted.

Mix the melted gul, roasted gram flour, powdered sesame and poppy seeds and cardamon and nutmeg pwds. Use a few drops of milk and ghee to form into a lump. Divide into 6 balls.

Dough - 1/2 cup wheat flour, 2 tsp plain flour, pinch of salt. Mix well. Add enough water to form into a dough. The consistency of the dough should be same as that of the gul mixture. So if your gul mixture is slightly loose, make a softer dough. Let the dough rest for 1/2 hour, then divide into 6 balls.

Then roll out each dough ball into small puri. Place 1 gul mixture ball on it. Bring sides of the dough together and seal close. Flatten between palms. Roll into a thin roti, using flour (wheat or plain or rice flour) to dust liberally.

Roast on a non stick pan on medium heat until light brown spots appear on both sides.

To make softer version of Gul Poli:

Ingredients for the filling are same as above. Make sure the gul is finely grated. Do not microwave the gul. Just mix the grated gul with the roasted gram flour, ground sesame and poppy seeds and cardamon and nutmeg pwd.

The dough is also same as above. You can make 2 small thin rotis from the dough, spread the gul mix evenly over 1 roti, wet the edges with water, cover it with the other roti, press edges to seal and roll into a bigger roti dusting with flour. Roast per above method.

 

Alternatively, you can fill the dry gul mix in one small flattened dough, bring the edges together, seal, flatten between palms and roll into a bigger roti. I prefer this method as the gul mix spreads out evenly this way for me. Roast per above method. Be sure to serve this warm as it will crisp up as it cools.