Photo: Sumit Surai · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Maharashtra · Dessert

Dudh Poli (Milk Flatbread Dessert)

Thin, soft wheat rotis simmered gently in saffron-cardamom sweetened milk until they absorb the milk and become luxuriously soft and fragrant — a uniquely Maharashtrian preparation where leftover rotis (or freshly made ones) are transformed into a dessert by immersion in flavoured sweetened milk. The result sits somewhere between a bread pudding and a milk-soaked flatbread — tender, milk-saturated and gently sweet.

🧺 Ingredients

• 1 cup (120 g) whole wheat flour
• Warm water to knead
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp ghee (for rolling)
• 750 ml (3 cups) full-fat milk
• 3–4 tbsp sugar (to taste)
• 20 saffron strands soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk
• ½ tsp cardamom powder
• 2 tbsp pistachios, slivered
• 1 tbsp charoli seeds

👩‍🍳 How to make Dudh Poli

1. Knead atta with water and salt into a soft dough.
2. Rest 15 minutes.
3. Roll into 6 thin rotis (thinner than usual — 2 mm thick).
4. Cook on a dry tawa over medium heat — very light cooking, just 30–40 seconds per side.
5. The rotis should be pale with only faint colouration, fully pliable and soft — not crispy, not charred.
6. Set aside.
7. Heat 750 ml milk in a wide, shallow pan over medium heat until it begins to simmer.
8. Add sugar, saffron milk and cardamom.
9. Stir until sugar dissolves.
10. Taste and adjust sugar.
11. Carefully lower the cooked rotis into the simmering sweetened milk one by one.
12. Simmer on low heat for 10–12 minutes — the rotis will soften progressively, absorbing the milk.
13. Gently turn them once or twice using a wide spatula.
14. The milk will reduce and thicken slightly as the rotis absorb it.
15. The rotis should be fully saturated and meltingly soft when done.

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