Konkani Narla Ubbati / Coconut Puranpoli

Puranpoli or Holige, a lentil flatbread is an Indian traditional sweet made on the festive occasion of Holi. We Konkanis call it as Ubbati. My Mom used to make another version of this sweet delicacy, a coconut stuffed one, called as Narla Ubbati. I made a couple changes to my Mom's recipe, to save some time and to make it healthier. Here is a Whole Wheat version of Coconut Puranpoli.

Dough:

Whole Wheat Flour - 1 1/2 cups

Milk - 3/4 cup

Olive Oil - 1/4 cup

Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp

Coconut Stuffing:

Shredded Coconut (fresh or frozen) - 1 1/2 cups

Grated Jaggery/Gud/Gul  - 1/2 cup (tightly packed)

Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 2 pods

How to cook Coconut Stuffed Sweet Flatbread:

Make Dough:

• In a mixing bowl, add whole wheat flour, turmeric and oil. Mix well. Now add milk, little at a time, and knead well to form a soft dough.
• Cover the bowl with plastic food wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
• Using all purpose flour/maida will make the puranpolis more soft. You can add more oil as well. For that authentic Narla Ubbati taste, you can use coconut oil. And vegans can use coconut milk instead of dairy milk.

Make Coconut Stuffing:

• Crush cardamom seeds to a fine powder in a mortar pestle to a fine power.
• Grind coconut in a blender to a slightly coarse paste. Add as little water as possible.
• In a microwave safe bowl, add coconut and jaggery. Mix well with a spoon.  Microwave for 6 minutes until all the moisture is lost. Stop the microwave after every minute and stir. Lastly, add powdered cardamom and microwave for another minute. Let the stuffing cool.
• If the stuffing turns too dry, sprinkle few drops of milk.
  

Preparing  Puranpoli:

• Divide the dough into 8 round balls. Make 8 round balls of the coconut stuffing as well.
• Roll each dough ball big enough to hold the stuffing. Place one coconut stuffing ball in the center and gather the edges to form a round ball again.  Let the stuffed balls rest for a minute or so.
• Grease the work surface/wooden board and the rolling pin with oil. Roll each one as thin as possible. You can dust some flour for rolling as well.
• Heat a griddle/tawa and roast both sides of each rolled puranpoli until small brown spots appear.

Serve hot Narla Ubbati with ghee/clarified butter.