Dates Holige: Addictively Delicious Khajoor Puran Poli

Holige of Karnataka, the salty flatbread with sweet stuffing is an absolute bliss that comes in umpteen combinations and permutations of sweet fillings with the salty chapati and each of them tastes unique and scrumptious. But the Dates Holige does the undoable by bringing the sticky and supremely sweet dates or khajoor as a stuffing for the salty rava flatbread. The stuffing is loaded with some more powerful ingredients besides dates like desiccated coconut and sesame seeds that add both fresh tropical flavours and bitingness. The light and airy rava flatbread made of maida, salt and rava make for an ideal base to assimilate the delicate date filling. 

Puran Poli is a widespread presence throughout the central and southern regions of India. These are eaten and known as Holige and Obbattu in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Bobbatlu or Baksham in Gujarat, Oliga in Telugu and Poli in Goa. The dish which is eaten with sour and spicy lentil curry of generally toor dal is also mentioned in 14th century Telugu encyclopaedia, Manucharitra. In this scripture, compiled by Allasani Peddana, the recipe is written as a part of Ayurvedic preparations.  

Prior to this, a 12th-century Sanskrit written by King Someshvar of Southern India also states the recipe of Holige. Traditionally it's made with wheat flour, jaggery, nutmeg, cardamom, ghee and water. 

Nutritional Benefits Of Dates

These dry fruits growing on date palm trees are known to be a rich source of fibre, carbs and antioxidants. Dates are not just high in natural sugar content but are also high-calorie fruit that keeps feeling full for longer.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup fine rava
• ¼ cup refined flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• Water as per requirement
• 2 tsp oil
• Dates Stuffing:
• 1 cup deseeded dates
• 1 tsp ghee
• ½ cup desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• ¼ tsp cardamom powder

Method:

• In a mixing bowl add rava, refined flour, salt and turmeric powder and mix everything.
• Now add water little by little and knead into a soft and loose dough.
• Add 1 tsp of oil over it and again knead the flour a little. Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a blender, grind the deseeded dates without water into a thick paste.
• Heat a pan, add ghee, and transfer the ground dates to it. Saute the dates in ghee for 2-3 minutes until the raw smell subsides.
• Then add desiccated and grated coconut, sesame seeds, and cardamom powder and mix everything with the dates. Saute for a few minutes and turn off the flame.
• Let it cool and then make 4 equal-sized small balls of the ground dates mixture.
• Then uncover the kneaded dough, punch it and knead a little bit again. Make equal-sized 4 small round balls out of it.
• Then stuff the date balls into the rava dough balls. Seal them from the top and roll gently into medium-sized chapatis.
• Cook them on the skillet well on both sides with ghee.

Serve hot with some ghee.

Rolling this super soft and loose rava and maida dough with sticky and lump-like date filling into chapatis requires a lot of care and attention to ensure that the stuffing doesn't come out. These can be eaten with Saaru, the Kannada dal curry or raita to enjoy the optimum taste of sweet and spicy.