Recipe
Khava Poli (Mawa Poli)
The Story
Khava poli (also called mawa poli) is a less codified cousin of puran poli, built on the same stuffed-flatbread structure but with a khoya-and-sugar filling in place of the traditional dal-jaggery puran. Where puran poli has a long, well-documented lineage across multiple Indian regions, khava poli reads more like a household or regional variation, likely arising from areas or families with easy access to fresh khoya, rather than a single, widely traced tradition. It’s worth treating this history as an educated framing rather than a settled fact: if you know a more specific regional or family origin for this dish, that’s worth adding here instead.
- Khoya/mawa, fresh, crumbled 1 cup
- Sugar 1/4 to 1/3 cup
- Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
- Chopped almonds and pistachios 2 tbsp
- All-purpose flour (maida) 2 cups
- Water for dough as needed
- Oil 3 tbsp
- Turmeric powder a pinch
- Salt a pinch
- Ghee for cooking as needed
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1
Cook the crumbled khoya with sugar on low heat, stirring continuously, until it just starts to come together, a few minutes at most.
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2
Stir in cardamom and chopped nuts, then cool the mixture completely, it firms up as it cools.
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3
Divide the cooled filling into 10 small balls.
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4
Make the dough the same way as puran poli, rest it covered in oil for at least 30 minutes.
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5
Divide the dough into 10 balls, slightly smaller than the filling balls.
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6
Stuff, seal, and roll out each poli the same way as puran poli, working gently since this filling can scorch faster.
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7
Cook on a tawa over slightly lower heat than puran poli, watching closely, until golden on both sides with a little ghee.
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8
Serve warm.
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