I definitely don't want this blog to be turning into a food blog, but after having relished this wonderful delicacy all my life, when I finally learnt to make it, I couldn't help putting it down as a post.
It is cooked primarily in the Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Its pretty much like a sweet cousin of stuffed paratha. It is called by different names in different places, made with different fillings and of different ingredients for the outer layer, served with varied accompaniments. And the taste does not just vary with the region or ingredients, it varies from preparer to preparer with the same ingredients.
At least in Karnataka, it isn't served as a typical dessert, after a meal, rather a meal begins with this. Logically makes sense as a dessert filled with calories is something you need to hold back on, but this is such a delight and made on occasions that it makes sense to have it first, satiate your taste buds, senses and tummy and then figure out what you would like to top it up with, in the tummy ofcourse.
Holige made of lentil, also has a by-product. Holige saaru or rasa, that literally matures like wine, the older the better.
Here's for the recipe.
For the filling:
Togari bele / Toor dal - 1 cup
Jaggery (work on jaggery with a knife, till you have shavings of it) - 1 cup
Kadle bele/chana dal - less than a quarter cup
Cardamom for taste
For the outer layer:
Maida/ Refined flour - Half cup
Chiroti rave / Fine Samolina - Half cup
Oil - Less than quarter cup
A pinch of salt
Filling:
- Wash Toor and chana dal and cook it with sufficient water so that its entirely soaked. Boil this until the dal is soft. This should take about 10 minutes.
- Strain the excess water into a bowl, also squeeze off the excess water as too much moisture will make the filling soggy. Keep this precious water and a little cooked dal aside to make rasa later.
- To the cooked dal, add jaggery and a bit of cardamom powder and cook it for a while longer so that the jaggery and the daal come together.
- Cool this mixture and grind it into a paste. It doesn't take too long to grind, as the mixture is already soft. The filling is now ready. At this point, it can be eaten as such.
Outer layer:
If the filling is made of all things nice, the outer layer is the evil. Wheat flour can be used instead of refined flour but am not sure of how the soft filling can be worked into a covering of wheat flour dough. But for the record, it can be done.
- Mix the refined flour and 'fine semolina' together with a pinch of salt into a dough with water. Then add in generous amount of oil, so the oil floats a little at the edges.
- Leave it to rest for a good 1 hour.
The coming together:
It is not so much 'coming together' as it is 'coaxing together'.
- Take a couple of square plantain leaf cut-outs, wash it and slightly warm the inner side (the side on which food is served, or the smoother side) on a tava/flat pan, so it doesn't burn later when its put on the tava with the holige.
- Before you start this process, chuck your calorie-consciousness out of the window as you would be continuously using oil - dipping your fingers into it (so the dough doesn't stick to your hand), smearing oil onto the leaf before working on every holige, pouring a little on the tava before you put in every holige on the tava.
- Take a little of the dough with your oiled fingers, it can be worked on either the palm or directly on the leaf so as to spread it into a thin layer. No rolling pin will work, instead you can place another oil smeared leaf on top of it and press on the dough over the leaf so the dough spreads out.
- Take a little of the filling, work it into a round shape, place it on the spread and pull up the edges of the spread to cover the filling entirely. Turn it over (if possible, without damaging the shape too much), pat it with a little oil, put the other leaf on top, work with your fingers over the leaf to spread it. With so much oil, the leaf, the holige, fingers all work together without sticking. The holige should be around 5 mm thick, not thicker, but if you can work it thinner, then go ahead and pat your self with those oily fingers that worked the magic.
- Remove the top leaf and pick up the leaf with the spread out holige on it and place the leaf holige side facing down on an oil treated pan.
- Use a dosa stick to separate the holige from the leaf. Drip a little oil over the holige and carefully turn it over once the side on the pan has cooked. Once the other side turns brown too, take the holige off the pan. The holige is ready to be eaten.
Serve it with just ghee/clarified butter. It is also eaten with milk poured on top of it, it makes it all mushy so I don't like it with milk. A mixture of gasgase/khus-khus/ground poppy seeds, grated coconut and jaggery ground together is also eaten with holige. But to me, holige by itself is such a complete food, I think the accompaniments are really redundant.
Now for the rasa or holige sambar.
You will need:
Cooked toor dal
Water from the cooked toor dal,
Couple of big spoons of freshly grated coconut
Shallow fried and ground onion, garlic, turmeric powder, whole coriander & cumin seeds. Add in tamarind to this while grinding it.
A little Jaggery
Sambar powder
Salt
Put all the above ingredients together and let it boil for a good while. Hold back on the salt you add to this, as every time its boiled it turns saltier. This is quite a mystery to me.
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