Here comes the Holige, ajji's speciality and her master piece! This is prepared mostly during big festivals, but for ajji the arrival of any guest or demand by grand children or friends itself is a festival ! And so, in spite of it being a time consuming and an elaborate process, how many lakhs of Holiges ajji has rolled so far, I cant guess!
I am not sure whether you really try your hand at this. But assuming that you prepare this one fine day (since you also like it a lot), I am posting this recipe. If you dont have time, you can prepare this in installments too, i.e., prepare the stuffing the previous day and roll the holiges the next day. You can even store different quantities of stuffing in different containers in the freezer, and use it many times- whenever you feel like. If the stuffing is ready, it is just like rolling stuffed parathas. But this is a bit more delicate since it is extremely thin unlike parathas, and should be handled carefully. But practice makes you roll them perfectly. It is quite healthy also since the main ingredient is the togari bele/tur dal.
As you know, ajji makes one of the finest holiges of the world. She has treated hundreds of friends and relatives with these. And this Vijayadashami, we were with ajji and thatha in Mysore and there were holiges getting ready for the festival ! I caught the process on my camera. And we all hogged them too with... yes, with pure home made ghee! The picture above shows it! Some of us had them with just ghee, and others with ghee, hot milk and also Elakki baLe haNNu (the special variety of banana, available in Mysore). As you know eating holiges with banana is a speciality of thatha's family. Previously they used Rasa baLe, a very special variety of bananas, but unfortunately it has become very very rare to find them nowadays.
To make holiges you have to have the kaNika (the flour) and the hoorNa(the stuffing).
And ajji used:
For hoorNa:
Togari beLe/toovar dal 1 cup
Jaggery syrrup 1 cup (1 string consistency)
Water 1 cup
Cardomom powder 1/2 teaspoon
Clove powder 1/4 teaspoon
Jaikai Nut/meg powder 2 pinches
Jaipatre/Mace powder 1 pinch
Coconut grated 1/4 cup
Procedure:
Pressure cook dal with water till done. Cool to room temperature.
Then first run grated coconut in the mixer to a fine powder. (The coconut taken out from the freezer and thawed just till it becomes powdery, gets ground to a fine powder easily). Now add cooked dal, jaggery syrrup and run the mixer. Transfer the contents into a microwavable bowl and microwave for for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring in between. The consistency of the product should be that of the chappathi flour you knead for making chapathis and so, you have to remove this from the microwave when it is still a little softer than the chapati flour. On cooling you will get the proper consistency. Now add all the remaining spices and mix thoroughly with hand.
Wheat flour 1 1/4 cup finely sieved
Maida 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder 1 pinch
Refined oil 1 tablespoon
Water about 1/4 cup
Procedure:
Take all the ingredients except water in a bowl. Adding water little by little, knead to get a consistency like that of chapati flour. Smear with 1 teaspoon of oil and leave for some time. This process of adding 1 teaspoon of oil and kneading again and again should be done 5 or 6 times in a gap of at least 4 or 5 hours. The flour becomes very very soft and rubbery.
It is important that the consistencies of both kaNika and hoorNa should be almost the same so that after stuffing and while rolling, it doesn't get torn. If you take a lemon sized ball of hoorNa, it is enough if you take half the size of kaNika. KaNika is a thin covering on the hoorNa, that is all.
Now, see the magic of 84 year young hands in action.....stuffing and then rolling !
After rolling, spread about half a teaspoon of oil on the top of it and transfer it on the tava so that the oiled surface touches the tava. Spread half a tea spoon oil on the other side too.
This is how it looks immediately after transferring on to the tava.
Roast on a medium heat till you get light brown colour as you find in the picture. The stuffing is already cooked, and the covering is very thin and so there is no need to cook it for a longer time or till fully brown. If you take it out soon, the holige remains very soft.
You can see the holige bloated in this picture. If it bloats, the holiges are extra soft. It is okay even if it doesnt bloat. You can take it out from the tava, once you get such dark marks on them.
Stuffing and rolling should be such that on rolling the stuffing is uniformly spread till along the circumference or else the edges become hard and it is not a nice feeling while eating. Again, this can be attained with a little bit of practice or if you take interest in the procedure.
