Puran Poli – Sweet Lentil Flatbreads

Puran Poli – An Indian delicacy made by stuffing soft whole wheat dough with soft-cooked yellow lentils, jaggery/brown sugar, cardamom, nutmeg, and saffron. It is then rolled thin and cooked on a griddle with lots of ghee to make it into a golden brown, flavorful, and aromatic flatbread. When torn apart it has an ooey-gooey perfection.

A Traditional Maharashtrian delicacy!

Puran Poli is specially made on few auspicious festivals:

• Holi – the festival of color, the celebration of the victory of good over evil, marks the arrival of spring. Holi, is a popular Hindu festival celebrated over 2-5 days in India. On the evening of the first day, public bonfires are made, called Holika Dahan. On the next day (or 5th day in some states) people play with colors. My memories of Holi are of the bonfires and my friends and family gathering around them to pray. The fifth day is the most colorful day where we shower our friends, family and even those we don’t know with vibrant colors both powder and liquid. Even after the holiday passes the streets of India look like a Monet covered in a sea of color.
• Diwali– which translates to a row of lights, is the main Hindu festival celebrated in autumn. In Maharashtra, where I grew up, it is celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm. Check out how my family celebrates Diwali in the USA!
• Bail Pola – celebrated in the monsoon season, on this day farmers pay respect to bullocks and cows as cattle is their main source of livelihood. ‘Bail’ in Marathi means ‘Bull.’ On this day, cattle are bathed, adorned with various ornaments and clothes. Their horns are given a fresh coat of paint and then the animals are taken around the village in processions accompanied by music.

Growing up, I did not enjoy Puran Poli as much; which was a bit odd as the rest of my family devoured this dish for a few days. I would beg my Mom to make me plain bread without the sweet stuffing, but she never entertained my request. The rule was to eat at least one before I would get to enjoy the rest of the delicacies that she prepared.

Years later, after I moved to the US, with my mom visiting me and me visiting home; I started liking this dish so much that I had to learn how to cook it.  With my mom’s precise instructions, I then made it several times, each time to the perfection that I would have expected from my Mom. Thankfully, both my children and my husband LOVE it and so it makes all the effort worthwhile.

Even though the process sounds a bit long and tedious, it has now become a no-fail recipe for me. I make the stuffing a day ahead and let it cool in the fridge overnight. Usually, I use a pressure cooker for cooking lentils but for this dish I let the lentils cook slowly in a big pot on the stovetop. This recipe requires split bengal gram/chana dal and jaggery, which is raw brown sugar. It also uses spices like cardamom, nutmeg, dry ginger, and saffron.

What is Puran Poli?

• Puran – Sweet filling made with chana daal, jaggery, cardamom, saffron & nutmeg
• Poli – Flatbread usually made with whole wheat flour
• Puran Poli is a sweet flatbread where the Puran is stuffed inside the whole wheat dough and rolled to form a thin flatbread. It is then cooked on a hot griddle with a generous amount of ghee until both sides are cooked with golden brown spots.

What is Jaggery?

• Jaggery (pronounced jag-uh-reey) is an unrefined sugar that is used commonly in India. Jaggery is made by boiling and reducing down sugar cane juice. 

Types of Puran Poli made in across India

• Maharashtrian Puran Poli – Thin flatbread usually made with chana daal and jaggery
• Gujarati Puran Poli – Thick flatbread usually made with toovar/toor daal and jaggery
• Andhra Bobbattu – Thin flatbread usually made with chana daal and jaggery, the filling can also have nuts 
• Kerala Boli – Thin flatbread made with chana daal and jaggery with the outer dough is made of rice flour and has a hint of turmeric
• Kannada Holige – Thin flatbread usually made with chana daal and jaggery 
• Tamil Poli – Hand patted flatbread with a coarse filling of chana daal, jaggery, and coconut

Pro tips to make perfect Puran Poli:

• Rinse the chana daal a couple of times and drain well
• Use filtered water to cook the daal. Hard water can cause the lentils to not cook properly or to take a longer time
• Old daal or organic daal can also take a longer time to cook
• Add a pinch of saffron for beautiful golden color to the filling
• Adding dry ginger powder to the filling helps with digestion but can be optional

Troubleshooting Puran/Filling  problems:

• How to fix runny Puran/filling? – Place the filling in a nonstick pan and cook on low-medium heat, stirring often for 5 to 10 mins. This will allow excess liquids to evaporate and the filing will become dryer.
• How to fix dry Puran/filling? – Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of warm milk to the Puran and mix it in. Add more milk as required until you get it to the desired consistency

Instructions

Step by step recipe to make Puran Poli:

Wash the chana daal 2-3 times. Drain all the water and then add 5 cups of filter water along with the daal in a heavy-bottomed pot. Let the daal cook on medium-low heat for at least an hour, stirring few times. If you see white foam rises up from the lentils, gently discard the foam with a spatula. The daal should be cooked very soft, test them by pressing between thumb and index finger and it should be very soft and mushy. Cooking time may vary, I usually let mine cook for a couple of hours on medium-low heat. If you can stay near the stove while it is cooking you may want to cook it at medium-high, stirring more frequently, in which case the daal will be fully cooked in 45 mins.

Drain all the water using a strainer (save the water to make katachi aamti, see recipe below). Put the daal back in the pot. Add jaggery, sugar, nutmeg, cardamom powder, dry ginger, and saffron to the lentils. Mix well, and cook stirring frequently for 20 mins on medium heat.

Let the above mixture cool down for few mins and then blend it to a smooth consistency in a food processor.  Tip – Make sure to blend while it is warm. This is our sweet stuffing and it should have a soft consistency like the picture below.

To make the outside cover of the poli, make soft dough with whole wheat flour, salt, saffron, and oil. This dough should be softer than the normal roti/paratha dough to get soft and flaky Puran Poli.

Let this dough rest for at least half an hour at room temperature. Start making balls of the dough and the stuffing which should be of the same size. I usually make mine the size of a lemon.

Put a heavy griddle on medium-high heat. Roll the dough by using the dry wheat flour that is kept aside for rolling. Make a 4-5 inch diameter circle. Put the stuffing in the middle of the rolled dough and then gather all the sides of the dough on top of the stuffing to enclose it. Roll the Poli softly using more dry flour. You can roll this thin or keep it a little thicker. I roll mine thin to about 8-10 inches in diameter. Gently put the rolled Poli on the heated griddle. Cook evenly on both sides to a perfect golden brown color. Add a little ghee to both sides.

Sprinkle a little more ghee on both sides and serve hot.

These Puran Poli are so flavorful that they can be eaten by themselves or traditionally they are served with hot milk that is flavored with cardamom and saffron.

Here is a picture of the full traditional meal, which includes Puran Poli, saffron and cardamom flavored milk, crunchy millet papads, crispy onion fritters, potato fritters, steamed rice, and spicy curry made with onions, coconut, and the reserved water from the cooked chana daal. Yummy!

Katachi Aamti

Many of you have asked for the recipe for the brown curry, photographed above. It is called Katachi aamti or saar and is made with the reserved water from draining the cooked chana daal. With few additional ingredients and spices, Katachi amti can be cooked within no time. Spicy Katachi aamti compliments the sweet Puran Poli and tastes delicious with steamed rice. Here is my recipe for Katachi Aamti or Saar:

Ingredients

• 3 cups water reserved from cooked and strained daal 
• 3 tablespoon oil, divided
• 1 medium red onion, rough chopped
• 1/3 cup dry shredded or sliced coconut
• 1-inch ginger
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 to 2 teaspoons Goda masala or garam masala
• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin powder
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pot. Add onion and saute for 5 minutes on medium heat or until they turn light brown. Add coconut, ginger, and garlic, and saute for another 2 mins. Allow it to cool.
2. Blend everything with 1/4 cup of water to make a smooth paste.
3. Add remaining oil to the pot. Add the masala paste, red chili powder, garam masala, ground coriander, ground cumin, turmeric, and salt. Mix well and cook for 5 minutes or until the oil starts to separate from the edges.
4. Add the daal water. Bring to a gentle boil. Add more water to bring the Aamti to a consistency you like and adjust the salt accordingly. Serve with steamed rice.

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Puran Poli

Sweet lentil stuffed flatbreads

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time1 hr 30 mins

Total Time2 hrs

Course: Breads

Cuisine: Indian

Servings: 6

Calories: 414kcal

Author: Archana Mundhe

Ingredients

Outer Dough

• ▢ 1 cup whole wheat flour for dough
• ▢ ½ cup whole wheat flour for rolling
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• ▢ 1 cups water divided
• ▢ 2 tablespoons ghee

Filling

• ▢ 1 cup chana dal
• ▢ 5 cups water
• ▢ ½ cup jaggery
• ▢ ½ cup sugar
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon saffron optional
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon dry ginger powder optional

Instructions

• Wash the chana daal 2-3 times. Drain and add daal and water to a heavy bottomed pot. Let the daal cook on medium-low heat for an hour or 2, stirring few times. Remove any white foam that may rise up.
• Drain all the water using a strainer (save the water to make Katachi Aamti, see recipe below). Put the daal back in the pot. Add jaggery, sugar, nutmeg powder, cardamom powder, dry ginger powder and saffron to the daal. Mix well, and cook stirring frequently for 10-15 minutes on medium heat.
• Cool down the cooked mixture for 5 mins and then blend it to a smooth consistency in a food processor. Make to blend while the mixture is warm. This is our sweet stuffing.
• Knead soft pliable dough with whole wheat flour, salt, saffron, water and oil. This dough should be softer than the normal roti/paratha dough to get soft and flaky Puran Poli'. So use water as needed, depending on the brand of flour you use you may need more or less water. Let the dough rest for 30 mins.
• Start making balls of the dough and the stuffing which should be of the same size. I usually make mine the size of a lemon. With the Ingredients we have here I usually make 8-10 balls each of the dough and stuffing.
• Put a heavy griddle on medium high heat. Roll the dough by using the dry wheat flour that is kept aside for rolling. Make a 4-5 inch diameter circle. Put the stuffing in the middle of the rolled dough and then gather all the sides of the dough on top of the stuffing to enclose it. Roll the Poli softly using more dry flour. You can roll this thin or keep it a little thicker. I roll mine thin to about 8-10 inches in diameter. 
• Gently put the rolled Poli on the heated griddle. Cook evenly on both sides to a perfect golden brown color. Add a little ghee to both sides. Serve with unsweetened milk flavored with cardamom and saffron.

Notes

Note – Using filter water or bottle water speeds up the cooking time for the lentils

Notes to make the Puran{sweet lentil filling} in the Instant Pot:

1. Rinse and drain the lentils.
2. Add lentils with 2.5 cups of filter water and Pressure Cook(Hi) for 10 minutes followed by natural pressure release.
3. Strain the liquids from the lentils using a mesh strainer and reserve the liquids.
4. Return the lentils to the Instant Pot. Add jaggery, sugar, nutmeg, cardamom powder, dry ginger, and saffron. Mix well and cook stirring frequently until the Puran starts to thicken up. If sautéing in the Instant Pot, cook on sauté(normal) mode to avoid splatters. 
5. Let the cooked lentils cool down for few mins and then blend it to a smooth consistency in a food processor.  Make sure the lentils are not completely cold, they need to be blended while they are warm.

Nutrition

Calories: 414kcal | Carbohydrates: 74g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 99mg | Potassium: 414mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 15IU | Vitamin C: 1.4mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 3.6mg

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