Pappu bakshalu, a sweet stuffed flatbread savored on festive occasions and made by stuffing soft whole wheat dough with sweetened lentils with jaggery/sugar and flavored with cardamom. Pappu bakshalu are served piping hot with a drizzle of ghee. The Poornam, cooked and reduced chana dal with sugar/jaggery is stuffed in whole wheat flour rolled dough. It is then rolled thin and cooked on a griddle with brushing ghee until golden perfection and drizzled more ghee while serving. This is an authentic delicacy in Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat. They are so soft that when torn apart it has a gooey stuffing filled with aroma of ghee to perfection.
What are Bakshalu ?
Bakshalu, are stuffed flatbreads in Telangana. They’re also known by Burelu, Polelu, Bobbatlu in Telugu speaking areas. These are also made in Maharashtra and known by Pooran poli, in Karnataka as Holige. And in Telangana we make bakshalu with Chana dal, Sesame seeds, Broken wheat and also spicy ones too. I have already shared the Nuvvula bakshalu/nuvvula polelu which are sesame jaggery stuffed flatbreads on my blog, which are made for Makar sankranti.
We make Bakshalu for Dasara/Vijayadasami, Holi, Ugadi and for Makar sankranti in Telangana region. While for Holi and Dasara we make Pappu bakshalu i.e., Yellow lentils stuffed flatbread and for Ugadi we make Sajja Bakshalu which are stuffed with cooked and sweetened broken wheat. And for Polala amavasya we make Poornam Garijalu, which are stuffed parcels of sweetened yellow lentils in wheat flour case, later they are deep fried and offered to Bulls as farmers pay respect to bullocks and cows as cattle is their main source of livelihood.
And these pappu bakshalu are also known by Poornam polelu in Nizamabad, Adilabad, Nirmal areas of Telangana state as they’re in proximity with Maharashtra the Word poli is slowly transformed to Polelu.
How are these pappu bakshalu traditionally made?
In Telangana, Bakshalu are either made with Maida/all purpose flour or Whole wheat flour. In the countryside, the stuffing is made by cooking the Chana dal until they turn mushy when boiled. These boiled chana dal are pounded with jaggery and hint of cardamom to a fine paste. They are later stuffed in a soft Maida dough and rolled into thin flatbreads and roasted on a hot griddle with ghee. And this is still followed in many families across countryside areas of Telangana.
In recent days people have been boiling these lentils to a soft consistency and instead of traditional pounding in mortar pestle, now they’re blended to a smooth paste in blender. This lentil paste is again cooked until it thickens, then powdered jaggery/sugar is added with a hint of cardamom, couple spoons of ghee and cooked until it thickens. This lentil mixture is called as POORNAM, this is later cooled down and later stuffed in rolled dough, sealed and rolled again in to thin flatbread. Cooked by roasting the rolled stuffed flatbread on both sides by applying ghee until they’re golden brown and cooked. And in Telangana, these bakshalu are served traditionally with warm milk and that’s how people have been eating from many centuries. Do give these divine festive food a try and I’m sure you just cannot stop with one.
Checkout more traditional festive foods and more telangana delicacies.
PAPPU BAKSHALU
Equipment
- Griddle
Ingredients
For stuffing
- 1 cup Chana dal/Bengal gram dal
- 2½ cups Water
- ¾ cup Jaggery
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 3 tbsp Ghee
- 3 pods Cardamom
For dough
- 2 cups Whole wheat flour
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
- Water
Instructions
Make a soft dough
- In a mixing bowl add whole wheat flour/Maida, salt, vegetable oil and give it a good mix.
- Now gradually add filtered water and bring the dough together to make a softer dough than chapati dough.
- Apply 3-4 tbsps of vegetable oil and knead for 8-10 mins until the dough is smooth, supple and pliable.
- Cover the kneaded dough with a wet cotton towel and let it rest until we make stuffing.
Preparing the stuffing - Instant pot method
- Rinse and drain the Chana dal and add it to the instant pot with 2½ cups of water and Pressure Cook(Hi) for 10 minutes followed by natural pressure release.
- Strain the liquid from the cooked chana dal/lentils using a mesh strainer and reserve the liquids.
- Let the cooked chana dal cool down completely, later blend the cooked lentils to a fine paste.
- Add the blended lentil mixture to the instant pot, add jaggery & sugar, powdered cardamom, couple spoons of ghee and cook the mixture on saute mode until the mixture thickens.
- Keep stirring continuously to avoid sticking to the bottom and use more ghee if needed.
Preparing the stuffing - Stove top method
- Rinse and drain the Chana dal and add it to the pressure cooker with 2½ cups of water and cook for 4 whistles on medium heat.
- Let the pressure release on its own. Later Strain the liquid from the cooked chana dal/lentils using a mesh strainer and reserve the liquids.
- Let the cooked chana dal cool down completely, later blend the cooked lentils to a fine paste.
- Add the blended lentil mixture to a thick bottomed pan and cook the mixture on medium heat until the mixture thickens.
- Now add in powdered jaggery & sugar, powdered cardamom, couple spoons of ghee give everything a good mix and cook by stirring continuously until the mixture thickens.Ps., Do not make the stuffing to hard as the Bakshalu/Poli will turn hard when cooked, stop cooking the lentil mixture when it thickens and doesn't stick to your hands.
- Let this Poornam/lentil mixture cool down completely.
Let's make some Bakshalu/Poornam polelu now
- Divide and roll the dough into balls and also the stuffing into balls which should be of the same size of rolled dough ball.
- Roll the dough using rolling pin or by using your hands and make a 4-5 inch diameter circle.
- Place the stuffing in the middle of the rolled dough and then gather all the sides of the dough on top of the stuffing to enclose it.
- Roll the stuffed dough softly using rolling pin or your hands to your desired thickness.
- Gently put the rolled baksham on the hot griddle. Cook evenly on both sides to a perfect golden brown color by brushing ghee on both sides.
- Serve hot Pappu Bakshalu with unsweetened milk topped with more ghee.
Notes
- I have used a mix of jaggery and sugar but you can either use jaggery completely or sugar and even use in various proportions but just make note that the quantity of sweetener and lentils should be in equal ratio.
- I have used whole wheat flour for the dough here, you can use a mix of whole wheat and Maida/All purpose flour, or completely Maida too.
- You can make an even softer dough by resting the kneaded dough in more oil until it's more stretchy and easy to press with hands. This softer dough can be only handled by hands, rolling pin cannot be used.
- The stuffing can be made ahead and can be refrigerated for 2 weeks and use when needed.
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