PAPPU BAKSHALU

A Telangana festive delicacy made by stuffing soft whole wheat dough with soft cooked yellow lentils, jaggery/ sugar and flavored with cardamom.

Prep Time30

Cook Time1 30

Total Time2

Course: Breads

Cuisine: Indian, Telangana

Keyword: Bakshalu, Festive food, Flatbreads, Stuffed flatbreads, Telangana cuisine, Vegetarian

Servings: 4 people

Author: Shravani Abhishek

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.