Suruttai Poli - Indian Cooking Challenge, Feb 2011

Suruttai poli, a traditional sweet preparation of South India, was chosen by Srivalli as the recipe for Indian Cooking Challenge for the month of February, 2011. This recipe is suggested by Nithya of 4th sense cooking, who stated her mother�s traditional, tried & tested recipe.

I had never heard about this dish so it was a real challenge to attempt. When I searched the net for pictures, I came across Pavithra's recipe on how the final dish will look.

Suruttai means rolled up and poli, generally refers to the sweet poli. It somehow resembled patisapta (a traditional sweet / savoury preparation in Bengali), stuffed with fillings of khoya & kheer / grated coconut, mixed with jaggery and rolled tightly.

Here the outer covering should be thin, like a papad. It came out nicely and everyone enjoyed this delicious sweet treat. The only addition I made, I added some raisins in the filling mixture�.

Ingredients:

For filling:

• Roasted gram: 1 cup
• Sugar: 1 cup
• Cashews, chopped: 3-4 tbsp
• Raisins: 3-4 tbsp
• Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
• Coconut, grated: 2 tbsp
• Ghee: 1 tsp

For dough:

• All purpose flour: 1 cup
• Salt, a pinch
• Water, to knead dough
• Oil, for frying polis

For garnishing:

• Sugar, powdered: � cup
• Cashews, chopped: 5-6
• Raisins: 10-12

Preparations:

Method for filling:

1. Dry roast the gram and powder the roasted gram and sugar together in a mixer.
2. Heat ghee and roast the chopped cashew, add grated coconut and saut� them till golden brown. mix well.
3. Add the powdered gram & sugar mixture, mix thoroughly by stirring continuously and switch off flame. Pour the mixture in a bowl and keep aside.

Method to prepare dough for Polis:

1. Sift flour and salt in a bowl, add a little water and knead to prepare a soft dough (like chaapati consistency). Ccover and set it aside for 10-15 mins.
2. Powder sugar, sprinkle on a plate and keep aside.
3. Make small balls from the dough, flour the rolling surface and roll the dough into very thin circles. (like papad consistency) (You can prick the rolled dough with fork on the surface to prevent them from puffing while frying). After rolling, keep aside for 10 mins.
4. Heat oil in a kadhai. Gently release the rolled dough in the oil. Turn and lightly fry on both sides and ensure that it do not change colour (It should be flexible and should not turn brown or crispy).
5. Drain oil and place the fried poli on the plate, coated with the powdered sugar. Carefully and immediately add 2-3 spoon fulls of filling on one side and roll tightly to form suruttai poli.
6. Keep aside face down in a flat surface. (The polis should be soft when hot but once they cool down they will become crispy).
7. Repeat with all the dough balls and prepare a whole batch of suruttai poli.

For serving, arrange the polis on a serving plate. Sprinkle some powdered sugar, garnish with cashews and raisins and serve.

Moong Dal Halwa, ICC Challenge for Dec' 2009

Moong dal ka halwa / Moong daal ka seera is a traditional Rajasthani (Marwari) / North Indian delicacy, made from split yellow lentils (moong dal). It is relished during the winter months and special occasions (Holi and Diwali) including wedding & other celebrations.

I first had this delicious halwa in the afternoon buffets in Angeethi, a terrace restaurant in the style of an authentic North Indian dhaba in Museum Road, off church Street, Bangalore.

As I never had this halwa before, I was curious to know the recipe. After coming back home, I searched my recipe books and found one. I prepared moong dal halwa for the first time and it was simply great though a little calorie laden. (By the time I finished preparing the sweet dish, my right hand was aching from stirring the halwa).

So when Srivalli decided this recipe for ICC � December challenge, I had the opportunity to prepare this halwa once again. She stated 2 recipes, I chose her second recipe (moong dal with milk), though I first sauted / dry roasted the dal (I used a 200 gms cup measure and other ingredients accordingly) & soaked overnight and also used crushed black cardamom while serving.

Both the recipes are stated below:

Moong Dal Halwa
Soaking Time : Overnight
Preparation Time : 15 minutes
Cooking Time : 30 - 45 mins

Recipe with moong dal and milk

Ingredients:

• Split Moong dal (yellow lentils): 1 cup / 200 gms
• Ghee: 1/2 cup
• Sugar: 3/4 cups to 1 cup (as required) / 150-200 gms
• Milk: 1/2 cup
• Cashews / raisins (roasted in ghee) for garnishing

Method:

1. Soak moong dal overnight. Next morning, grind to a paste.
2. Heat a heavy / deep bottomed kadai, take only 1/2 of the ghee and heat it.
3. Add the dal and stir continuously (ensure that no lumps are formed as the dal cooks really fast, irrespective of the ghee).
4. Keep the heat at the lowest and keep stirring even after the dal becomes thick.
5. Add the rest of the ghee intermittently, cook the dal until aromatic and the ghee starts oozing out.
6. Meanwhile mix the sugar with water/ milk in a pan and bring to a boil. Add this slowly to the cooking dal.
7. Keep the fire low at all times and break lumps if formed while adding the sugar and water / milk mix.
8. Cook until the ghee surfaces. Garnish with cashews and raisins.

Recipe with moong dal and khoya

Ingredients:

• Split (Yellow) Moong dal: 1 cup
• Sugar: 3/4 cup - 1 cup (as required)
• Clarified Butter / Ghee: 1/2 cup
• Khoya: 1/2 cup
• Cashew nuts and raisins for garnishing

You can make any quantity with this as long as you keep this ratio constant : equal amounts of dal and sugar, half the ghee and khoya.

Method:

1. Lightly roast the 1 cup of moong dal, wash, soak overnight and be ground to a fine paste adding very little water.
2. Take a thick bottom pan, heat 1/2 cup ghee and fry the moong dal paste till it turns brownish and releases the ghee. Add sugar and khoya.
3. Stir fry until both the sugar and khoya are well absorbed. Turn off the heat, then mix in cashew nuts and raisins.

Also special thank you wish to Lathaji and Simran�s Mom for the recipe inputs.

Notes :

1. Use a thick bottom pan /nonstick pan.
2. Don't leave the halwa unattended. The dal can stick to the pan and get burnt, keep stirring continuously to prevent dhal from sticking irrespective of the ghee added. (The halwa will thicken as it cools).
3. Cook until ghee surfaces on the sides and the halwa attains a very nice shine.
4. Initially, it may appear that all the ghee is being used up. But as the dal cooks the ghee separates. So the ghee measure is sufficient.
5. In both recipes depending on how you got the moong dal paste, you may require slightly more ghee to get the texture.