Saturday, April 17, 2021

#AtoZChallenge - Obbattu

 (This month, each day, except the four Sundays, I will be blogging about interesting features associated with Bengaluru, formerly known as Bangalore, as part of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge)

Obbattu is a very popular sweet dish. It's known by different names depending on the State. Here in Karnataka, it's also called holige. In Kerala, it's boli, and in many other places puran poli.

It's a sort of flatbread, made of wheat flour or chana dal (chickpea lentils) or maida (refined wheat flour). Other ingredients include turmeric powder, grated coconut, jaggery or sugar, cardamom powder, salt, cooking oil, etc.

There are so many regional variants of this.

Image courtesy: The Times of India

 Though it can be made and had at any time, it's a very common dish during festivals or joyful occasions like weddings. There are plenty of websites that tell you how to make it. Here's one - Archana's Kitchen.

(In the next part in the series, on the 19th, we again go back in time and look at something historical.)



39 comments:

  1. I love boli. It is my favorite sweet.

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    1. Hi Rajan - Looks like it is a very popular dish!

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  2. Hari OM
    For all the Indian food I have eaten over all these years, I only ever had these once - for Onam - and I have dreamt of them ever since. Mouthwatering!!! Thanks for pointing to the recipe. YAM xx

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  3. Obattu or poli is a common sweet and popularised by Venkateswara poli stall around chennai. It is my favourite too.

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    1. Hi KP - A stall dedicated to poli. That's nice!

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  4. That’s a lot of information on Poli. A good list of points to be noted . Will save this for future reference. Thanks for sharing this with us.

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  5. Yes We call it Puran Poli in Maharashtra. I quite like the other one from the obattu family, the one with the coconut and jaggery stuffing. I don't know what it's called.

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    1. Hi Anusha - I am sure there are different versions of it.

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  6. Oh, yum. :) Today we're going to have beef rendang over rice. Combining the spices yesterday about drove me crazy, they smelled so good. Be well!

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  7. Obbattu is a health dish being made out of dhal. You said in Karnataka it is called Holige. Isn't obbattu, a kannada word?

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    1. Hi Rajeev - It's indeed called Obbattu here. Holige is another name.

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  8. Confession: I love flat bread. I'll have to try and make this :-)

    @JazzFeathers
    The Old Shelter - The Great War

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  9. During the early 2000s quite a few stalls opened up in the Mambalam area of Cennai selling poli .....They drip with ghee and look sinful but the taste is awesome

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  10. It seems that every culture has some sort of flatbread. Now, that would be an interesting survey, comparing and contrasting flatbreads all over the world.

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  11. I am always ready for food :)
    In Odisha, we have quite a number of Pithas & Chakuli. Healthy & tasty!

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    1. Hi Anita - I am sure there are number of variations of the sweet.

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  12. Hi Pradeep - this sounds delicious ... and one day I'd love to give it a try ... an ideal dish for a party or a meal. Thanks for this - Hilary

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  13. I love boli too . Dint know it’s called by this name

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    1. Hi Shilpa - Various names depending on in which state you are in.

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  14. I love Holige/Obattu as well. In bangalore you can find a wide variety of holiges.

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  15. Oh I have made so many foods from India..and the hard way (old way) so to speak. I made my own garam masala, my own ghee, everything and hunted down rose water for desserts. Raw cashews are hard to find but I managed. I could live on my alu Mattar, chana dal, tandoori murg, murg kari..oh...I wish I would still take the time to do these. When I went to a store of any sort after cooking these foods sometimes, people would comment on how good I smelled with the fragrance of all the spices I carried with me.

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    1. Hi Katie - So glad that you are quite familiar with Indian dishes. You must try making this Obbattu.

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  16. I have never eaten this though have tried Puran Poli. We do make Gur ka paratha- only Jaggery, flour and ghee.

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    1. Hi My Space - Still I can imagine how yummy it must be.

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  17. Yummy holige.
    I remember visiting my friend In BLR a few years ago and on our walk around her area, we stopped at a tiny shop. She ordered 20 pieces for me to bring with me to Doha. I gobbled half of them at BLR airport! They were so light and delicious.

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    1. Hi Arti - That's a lovely anecdote! Not surprised at all :-)

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  18. It sounds like something I'd enjoy.

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    1. Hi Red - I am wondering if Vietnam has a version of this.

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  19. We call it bobbattu in Telugu. Just add a 'b' before the 'o'. :)
    Very popular during the festivals and one of the must-try sweets in Andhra.

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  20. I like boli, if it is made of basen(Chickpea flour). Nice.

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