Poli Boorelu

Bonus Dish for Week 1: B for Boorelu
Theme: A-Z Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: Poli Boorelu

Here's Wishing everyone a Very Happy Ganesh Chathurthi!!


While I was planning for the A-Z series, I came across a ton of dishes from Andhra Pradesh that I've never tried before and in my excitement to cook for the event, I cooked more than I should. Since we are only posting 1 dish per alphabet, I had to edit myself and only post the ones I felt really represented AP. So to keep the momentum going, I decided to post the ones that didn't get picked up the regular Blogging Marathon on Sundays as Bonus recipes. Today's bonus recipe is an easy to make boorelu. I still remember the first time I made boorelu years ago for Varalakshmi vratam. I invited few friends for dinner that day and my filling for boorelu was so liquidy that it completely dissolved in the cover batter. So when I fried them, they ended up looking like pakodi. We all ate them anyway.  But this recipe is almost fool-proof, since chana dal is first soaked, ground and then steamed (like when we make patoli/ paruppu usili), so there is no chance of the filling getting liquidy.
For the outer cover, usually urad dal (minapappu) and rice are soaked and then ground to a smooth paste. Instead I used store-bought urad dal flour and rice flour. This makes life so much easier making the whole process quicker and leaving only 1 bowl to clean.
Ingredients:
For the filling:
Chana dal - 1cup
Sugar - 1cup
Ground Cardamom - ½tsp
Dry grated coconut - ¼cup
For the Outer Cover:
Urad dal flour - ½cup
Rice Flour - 1¼cups
Salt - pinch
Method:

• For the Outer Cover: Combine urad flour, rice flour and salt. Add enough water to make a lump-less batter similar in thickness to pancake batter. Cover and set aside while you prepare the filling.
• For the filling: Soak chana dal for at least 2-3 hours. Drain all the water and then grind into an almost smooth paste without adding any water. Steam this mixture for 5-7 minutes (just as you would for idlis). Once the mixture has cooled, crumble it using your fingers and add sugar, grated coconut and ground cardamom. Mix well. Take a tablespoon of the mixture and form into round balls. 
• Make Boorelu: Heat oil for deep frying in a pan. Dip the filling balls in the urad dal batter and gently place them in the hot oil. Fry until golden brown on all sides. Remove and drain on paper towel.

The outer layer is crispy and the filling is sweet and soft. They are perfect as neivedyam (festive offering). I dipped some sliced potatoes in the left-over outer cover batter spiced with red chili powder, cumin seeds & salt and made some yummy bajjis.