Puranpoli

Despite being in cooking for a while now , having the treaded into unknown zones of cooking, baking, I am still jittery when it comes to making traditional and mummy makes best category dishes. Puranpoli is one of those things. It is being made for years now in the house and we are not suppose to wait for any season or reason to make it. Yet the fervor around making this still remains the same.
So when I made this some weeks back, it was under the watchful eyes of dear MIL but she gave me enough space to incorporate some of my mother's tricks and also shared her own versions. The interesting part when we cook together is the anecdotes and stories we share. We come from very different backgrounds and have a lot of cultural variations. We thus like to share them with each other and are highly appreciative of it. She has obviously more experience, is far more learned, and well traveled domestically. I complement with my enthusiasm, more global views and some modernized techniques.  Her calmness and cucumber cool approach is perfect glaze to my fiery naga chilli zeal. Well, I hope we collaborate more often to give you some unseen recipes as well.




Ingredients
For the dough
2 cups wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour (You can use only wheat)
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil (Yes!!!)
a pinch of salt
For the filling
2 cups of Split Bengal Gram (chana dal)
1 cup of Jaggery
1 cup of Sugar
1 tspn of cardamom powder
Method
1) Boil the chana dal with 5 cups of water in a pressure cooker - about 3 whistles
2) Drain the water (do not discard) completely. Also keep a spoonful of the cooked dal aside. This can be used to make the katacha rassa
3)Now in a deep sauce pan, add the drained dal along with grated jaggery and sugar.
4) Cook until the mixture is well mixed and all the sugar and jaggery is absorbed. The mixture  should be as dry as possible else the poli's will start cracking up when you roll them out. When done, keep aside to cool down completely.
5)When the mixture is cooled, using a puran machine (grinder kind of thing) or a mixer churn the mixture to make a make a smooth mixture with the chana dal completely mashed.
6) For the dough, in a large bowl/ basin, take the flours and add a pinch of salt. 
7) Make a well in the middle and slowly add oil and start mixing in the flours to form a soft dough. The flour will start absorbing oil as you go on kneading. You will have to be patient and knead sufficiently. You will notice that the dough will become dry as you go on kneading which means the oil is getting soaked in. If needed add more oil. (Dont fuss about the oil, this is a sweet dish and also uses lesser oil then a 12" cake)
8) Cover the dough with a damp cloth for 10-15 min and set aside.
9)Keep a tawa on the stove to heat up a bit. We need medium hot tawa to begin with.
10) Take small balls of the  dough (about half the size of lemon) and roll it out to be the size of small. Take a large bowl of the puran (dal mixture) about the size of golf ball. and place it in the centre. Gently cover the puran with the dough and seal from all sides.
11) Now gently roll out the filled dough to form a thin roti. Note that the jaggery will make it difficult so you can use some rice flour to help you roll out.
12)Gently lift the roti and put it on the hot griddle/ tawa. After 2 min or when there some soft spots flip around. If the poli has cracked up then you can place a large dish on the tawa to cover, using a cloth to hold the dish flip the tawa to get the poli on  it. Then gently slide the poli back on the tawa to cook on the other side. Note you get to do one side only once.
13) Fold the poli and gently lift it off the tawa. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
Serve warm with ghee on the poli. At our home we traditionally eat it with batatyachi bhaji, a cup of milk (my husband abhors the idea but thats because of cross cultural upbringing) and katacha rassa. These polis stay well for days (easily for a week) 


Old Wives Tale
If the dough outlasts the puran then it is a bad omen. If the puran outlasts the poli then something sweet will happen.



Sending this to 
Vardhini's LGSS -Stuffed paratha guest hosted for Vatsala


-Kaveri's Jingle All the Way

Comments

Kavi said…
puran poli at its best!
looking wonderful!
If possible, please go through the rules of my event > Jingle All The Way and link your post there.
Thanks!
-
Kavi (Edible Entertainment)
Alpana said…
Beautiful.......Thanks for sharing.
Vardhini said…
Polis look perfect and apt for the festival today. Thx for linking to the event.

Vardhini
Event: Sinful Delights
Event: Stuffed Paratha
Fahad Khan said…
This QSR(Quick Service Restaurant) I was working with,until some time back,I had a boss who loved Puran Poli.Had I got this recipe earlier,I probably would have given it to her.:-)
Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy New Year!:-)

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