My son first had this at my friend Sunita’s place. The kids call it as sweet chapati. It makes into the school snack box at-least twice a week. Sunita’s younger son Charan is a sweet lover. Its one of his favorites. He is the most naughtiest in the gang. Here is one incident that happened a couple of years ago. Painting was going on at my place and they were doing the doors that day. Painters had just painted the front door and the frame. The frame that ran on the floor was still wet. Charan came home. My husband stopped him at the doorway and said, “Charan, don’t stamp on the frame OK. It’s still wet with paint.” He said nothing. Instantly, he jumped on the frame, placing his foot firmly on the frame and then jumped back to where he was. He said “Vinodh Uncle, I should not stamp like this. Am I right?” My husband froze for a second. He burst out with laughter and said “Yes. That’s perfect.” He was 5 years old then. We did not paint the frame back again. We just left it like that with the foot print on. We all must have laughed for a good one hour and kept the foot print as a remembrance. The paint has now faded away but we still laugh whenever we speak about it. Here is our Charan, the man – Spider-Super-Bat-Captain-America man!!!
Here is a kids favorite, wheat obbattu.
Lets make the dough for the obbattu first.
Add in the water, ghee and salt to the flour and knead well for a couple of minutes. If the dough is very dry, add a couple of tablespoon of water. Set aside for 2 hours. The dough will become soft and pliable during the resting period. The ghee makes the dough soft.
Soak the chana dal in water for an hour.
Cook the soaked chana dal with 1 and 1/2 cup of water in a pressure cooker. Cook for 5 whistles on a medium flame. Remove from heat and wait for the pressure to settle naturally.
Drain the cooked chana dal and grind it in a mixie along with jaggery, cardamom powder and salt. Powder the jaggery before adding it to the mixie. Else the motor will burn out. Grind to a smooth paste. Make sure its smooth as it will be easier to roll the obbattu later. If the chana dal is in pieces and not ground well, it may pop out while rolling making a mess. Try not to add extra water while grinding.
Transfer the ground mixture to a pan and fry for 5 minutes to take out the excess moisture. Set aside to cool. Make small lime sized balls out of the mixture and set aside on a plate.
I had 16 balls. They were the true sweet sixteen!
Stuffing the obbattu
Knead the well rested dough for a minute and make 16 balls out of the mixture.
Take each ball and gently flatten and dust with flour liberally.
Gently roll into a small circle. Place a ball of pooranam – lentil mixture in the middle.
Pull up the atta dough around the stuffing. Pinch the dough on top to seal.
Repeat with the remaining dough. Let the stuffed dough balls rest for 10 minutes before starting to roll. The gluten in the dough will relax and rolling will be easy. Pat the stuffed balls again in flour and roll the dough very gently. VERY GENTLY. If the dough breaks, add in a little more flour. Set aside.
Set a griddle on heat on medium flame and place the obbattu and sprinkle some oil or ghee. Leave it for 20 seconds. The obbattu would bubble up.
Flip the obbattu and cook for 30 seconds. Flip again if necessary. Remove from heat and set aside on a plate to cool.
Store in a refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat and serve warm when required.
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Obbattu – Whole Wheat Obbattu / Bobbatlu Recipe
Recipe for making Obbattu / Bobbatlu with wheat flour Tamil Style. Made with 100% whole wheat flour – Atta. Step by step recipe with pictures.
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 mins
- Yield: 16 1x
Ingredients
- Measurements used – Rice cups – 1 cup = 160ml
For the dough
- 2 cups Atta – whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup water
- 3 teaspoon ghee
- pinch of salt
For Pooranam / stuffing
- 1 cup chana dal
- 1 and 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 cup jaggery
- pinch of salt
Other ingredients
- 1/4 cup atta for dusting while making obbattu
- 3 tablespoon oil or ghee for frying
Instructions
- Add in the water, ghee and salt to the flour and knead well for a couple of minutes. Tf the dough is very dry, add a couple of tablespoon of water. Set aside for 2 hours. The dough will become soft and pliable during the resting period. The ghee makes the dough soft.
- Soak the chana dal in water for an hour.
- Cook the soaked chana dal with 1 and 1/2 cup of water in a pressure cooker. Cook for 5 whistles on a medium flame. Remove from heat and wait for the pressure to settle naturally.
- Drain the cooked chana dal and grind it in a mixie along with jaggery, cardamom powder and salt. Grind to a smooth paste. Make sure its smooth as it will be easier to roll the obbattu later. If the chana dal is in pieces and not ground well, it may pop out while rolling making a mess. Try not to add extra water while grinding.
- Transfer the ground mixture to a pan and fry for 5 minutes to take out the excess moisture. Set aside to cool.
- Make small lime sized balls out of the mixture and set aside on a plate. I had 16 balls. They were the true sweet sixteen!
- Stuffing the obbattu
- Knead the dough for a minute and make 16 balls out of the mixture. Take each ball and gently flatten and dust with flour liberally.
- Gently roll into a small circle. Place a ball of pooranam – lentil mixture in the middle.
- Pull up the atta dough around the stuffing. Pinch the dough on top to seal.
- Repeat with the remaining dough. Let the stuffed dough balls rest for 10 minutes before starting to roll. The gluten in the dough will relax and rolling will be easy.
- Pat the stuffed balls again in flour and roll the dough very gently. VERY GENTLY. If the dough breaks, add in a little more flour. Set aside.
- Set a griddle on heat on medium flame and place the obbattu and sprinkle some oil or ghee. Leave it for 20 seconds. The obbattu would bubble up. Flip the obbattu and cook for 30 seconds. Flip again if necessary. Remove from heat and set aside on a plate to cool.
- Store in a refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat and serve warm when required.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: South Indian
Hi can we make this with nattu sakkarai instead of jaggery
Sure. You can use country sugarcane instead of jaggery.
I tried this dish for the first time today. Although we typically make Paruppu Poli with maida (I came here from your poli page), I am more comfortable using wheat flour to maida. Thanks for a simple recipe with clear instructions and pictures!
Thank you so much!
Thank you very much for the recipe! I tried it yesterday and it came out very well.
Thank you so much. Happy you liked it. Wish you and your family a very happy new year 2018!
Thank you for the recipe and the story, really loved the story!:) I will try the recipe today.
Thank you so much!
thankyou so much for the wonderful recipe. i tried it today for my hubby birthday came out very well.love your site.
Thank you so much. Hope your husband had a nice birthday. Have a great year ahead guys!
i made it but the sweet has become watery how to make it thick balls
Stir the mixture on a pan for 10 minutes to thicken until it firms up!
I learned this one from a maharshtrian friend.Thanks for reminding.Will try this today.
We Maharashtrian call it as Puran Poli. Holi festival sweet.
Namaskaram Suguna , nice recipe and I can understand why children would love to have this in their lunch box, but in our house we do not care too much for sweet things, so …….
I love the story about the footprint – too funny indeed. But omG, just look at that sweet face of your son – he has that special little naughty glint in his eyes ????.
Thanks Carina. He is my friends son who stamped the foot print! 🙂 Yes he is a very naughty boy!
Hi
Can I make this with toor dhal or moong dhal?
Thanks
Iswarya
You can!
Yummmm.
I have a doubt. SOMETIMES when I buy jaggery it has sand in it. When I grind the jaggery with dal it might have small pieces of stones.
Pls guide.
You can melt the jaggery with a little water, strain and then grind with the lentils to make a paste. But you need to fry the mixture in the pan till it is dry.