Kai Holige (narla ubbaTi)

HoLige is a flat sweet bread with savory filling covered in a bland covering. Kai Holige/Coconut puranpoli/narla ubbaTTi is a specialty in Mangalore, now MangaLooru. hoLige is same as obbaTTu; In MangaLooru kannada we call it hoLige, while the rest of the Karanataka calls it obbaTTu. In Konkani it is ubbaTTi. kai/tengina kai or narlu is coconut. The brahmins in MangaLooru always serve hoLige during the festivals/weddings or any special occasions.

kai hoLige

for the filling/hooraNa
2 cups shredded coconut
2 big cubes jaggery
2 tsp rice flour
2 pods cardamom

for the outer layer/kaNaka
2 tsp milk
2 cup extra fine rava/chiroti rava
2 tbsp maida
1/2 cup oil

To make the filling, grind the shredded coconut to a smooth paste without adding water. Make jaggery syrup in a kadai. To make the syrup first boil 1 tbsp of water and add jaggery to it. Keep boiling on a medium flame till all the jaggery dissolves and starts bubbling. Keep boiling for another minute, add the coconut paste and rice flour. Keep stirring till the mixture becomes hard and all the liquid is evaporated. Add cardamom powder. The mixture should have no liquid in it and be hard enough to hold the shape when formed into balls. Let it cool completely.

To make the outer filling, mix rava, milk, oil, maida to form a soft ball. Add water as needed. Set aside for 30 minutes.

making the kai hoLige; on the left-hooraNa or the filling, on the right outer covering or kaNaka

To make hoLige, divide the filling and the outer cover into equal number of portions. Form into balls. Let the filling be bigger than the outer cover. Roll the outer cover into small circle. Place the filling, fold all the sides and cover the filling entirely, like how you would do for stuffed paratas. Continue to roll into big cirlce, like a chapathi.

Fry on medium flame on a flat griddle without any oil/ghee. Cool and store in a air tight container. Stays upto a week.

Serve with a tsp of ghee on top.

A few months back when I did a research on how to make kai hoLige, I did posted a query on konkani recipes yahoo group and had got a few suggestions. This is the compilation of various tips given by the members there. Special thanks to Jaya V Shenoy, the author of well known konkani cookery book and Shilpa of Aayis Recipes