Puran poli or holige is a typical sweet flatbread that has a sweet chana dal (lentil) filling prepared with bengal gram flour and sugar in the form of jaggery. In Marathi the bread is the ‘poli’ whilst the sweet suffing in the ‘puran’. in other parts of India it is called holige.
It is commonly prepared for festivals and comes from Maharashtra. It is often enjoyed at the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
Jaggery is an unrefined sugar prepared from sugar cane juice.
It is commonly prepared for festivals and comes from Maharashtra. It is often enjoyed at the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
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Serves 8; Preparation time: 10 minutes; Cooking time: 1 hour, 30 minutes; Soaking time: 1 hour; Total time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.
Ingredients:
For the Sweet Filling (Puran):
- 1 cup chana dal (skinned and split chickpeas/bengal gram)
- 3 -4 cups water for cooking the chana dal
- 2 teaspoons ghee
- 1 teaspoon fennel powder (ground fennel seeds) – grind fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar.
- ¾ to 1 teaspoon dry ginger powder (ground ginger)
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder (ground cardamom)or 4 to 5 green cardamom crushed finely
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder (ground nutmeg)
- 1 cup powdered jaggery
For the Outer Covering of the Poli:
- 1½ cups whole wheat flour with ½ cup all purpose flour, or you can also use 2 cups whole wheat flour instead
- 4 tablespoon oil or ghee (clarified butter)
- ½ teaspoon salt or as required
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (optional – to give a pleasing yellow colour to the poli)
- water for kneading the dough
- oil or ghee as required for roasting the puran poli
Preparation Of Puran Poli:
[1] Preparation of the Puran Mixture
- Rinse the chana dal thoroughly in cold water or you can just soak it in cool water for an hour or two and drain off the water. Soaking also helps to reduce its cooking time.
- Cook the chana dal thoroughly. You can use a pressure cooker but it deserves plenty of time to get the right consistency. Sieve the chana dal. Collect the water for use as a base for other types of dal or you can add to rotis.
- In a skillet or frying pan, melt the ghee and add the spices. Fry these for a few seconds.
- Add the jaggery and chana dal and stir into the mixture. Cook on a low flame until the mixture is dry but not caramelised. The puran filling eventually thickens at which point it is taken off the heat.
- Allow to cool and thoroughly mash with a potato masher or beat with a wooden spoon. Keep to one side.
[2] Preparing The Poli Dough:
- Mix all the flour and salt in a bowl together.
- Add water with ghee and mix to make a dough. Knead the dough adding water as required.
- The dough should be smooth and soft. Cover and keep aside the dough for 15-20 minutes.
[3] Making The Puran Poli:
- Take a medium or large size ball of dough. Roll the dough into 2 to 3 inches in circumference on a dusted rolling board.
- Place some of the puran mixture in the center of the rolled dough. Use your judgement on how much to use – a fistful is enough.
- Bring the edges together towards the center. Join all the edges and pinch them.
- Sprinkle some flour and start rolling the dough. if the dough cracks or breaks up, add extra dry flour.
- Make a medium or large disk of poli. Its size will depend on the size of the dough and puran filling you took.
- On a heated tawa, pancake pan or griddle, spread some ghee. Place the rolled poli dough disc on the tawa.
- When one side gets browned, turn over and cook the other side till you see some brown spots.
- Once the second side gets browned, then turn over and apply more ghee. If everything is done properly then puran poli will puff up.
- The poli should be cooked well with brown spots and golden.
- Make all puran polis this way and stack them in a casserole or in a kitchen napkin.
- You can serve puran poli warm or at room temperature with milk, ghee or curd (yogurt).
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