Puran Poli is an unleavened Indian flat bread with a stuffing of lentils sweetened with jaggery or sugar and some aromatic spices.
The bread or the outer covering is made with whole wheat flour or all purpose flour or a combination of both.
Puran Poli is a popular dish from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Southern States of India. In Karnataka it is called Holige, while Obbattu in Andhra Pradesh.
The difference is in the choice of lentils for stuffing, thickness of the bread and the flour used for bread.
In Maharashtra is made on Gudi Padwa, and other festivals.
It is served with ghee or milk on the side. Many also enjoy it with a spicy soup made with chana dal called katchi amti. I personally prefer it with a bowl of home made curd.
Lot of memories are associated with Puran Poli. My dad and I were the only ones who enjoyed this delicacy. Somehow, whichever city we were in, we always had neighbours who used to make Puran Poli. We used to actually wait for them to send it to us. At that time I never thought I should learn to make these. I was happy living on our neighbour's generosity.
It's only when I got married, I learnt to make these as my husband is very fond of them.
I have made these using whole wheat flour and chana dal. These are mildly sweet, you can increase the quantity of jaggery as per your taste.
Ingredients
Stuffing (Puran)
Chana dal 1/2 cup
Jaggery powder 75 gms (1/2 cup)
Green Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg grated 2 pinch
Water 2 cups
Ghee 2 tsp
Covering (Poli)
Whole wheat flour 1 1/4 cup
Salt a pinch
Turmeric powder a pinch
Oil 1 tbsp
Thick Yogurt 1 tbsp
Water 110 gms approximately
Method
Wash dal in running water and soak it for an hour.
While the dal is soaking ,let's make dough for the poli.
Take flour in a bowl.
Mix in salt and turmeric.
Mix in oil and yogurt.
Now add water slowly and make a soft dough. Keep it covered till the puran is ready.
Drain off the water and pressure cook dal with 2 cups of water for 3 whistles.
Let the pressure drop by itself.
Drain the dal.
Let it cool completely.
Now grind it in a mixer to get a fine mixture .
Mix in dal paste, jaggery powder, cardamom powder and nutmeg in a heavy bottom non stick pan.
Cook on low flame till jaggery melts and the mixture almost dries out .
Add ghee and mix well.
Once Puran cools down, divide it into 6 equal portions. Roll each portion to make a ball.
Knead the dough for a minute and divide it also into 6 portions.
Roll each into a smooth ball.
Heat a girdle/ non stick tawa.
Dust a ball of dough with flour.
Using a rolling pin roll into a 3" disc.
Keep a ball of Puran(stuffing) in th centre.
Fold the edges of the dough over the stuffing.
Pinch the edges together to seal the stuffing.
Dust with flour.
Roll into an 8 inch diameter disc.
If it sticks to the rolling pin, dust a little flour.
Don't put too much pressure while rolling else the stuffing will come out.
Tranfer the disc to hot tawa.
Cook on high till small brown spots appear.
Flip , lower the heat.
After a minute, press all over with back of a spatula.
Apply ghee.
Flip and apply oil on the other side.
Cook on both sides till it crisps a little and slightly large brown spots appear.
Keep the heat medium.
Remove on a kitchen towel .
Serve immediately.
Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
The extra can be kept in a covered container in the fridge.
Heat it again on the tawa before serving.
You can also smear some ghee while reheating.
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