The festival of vibrant colours is here and this Holi is marking the first Holi of the new decade. The celebration of Holika Dahan will be marked on March 9 on this year followed by Holi on March 10. The festival of Holi is not only known for its colours and enjoyment but for its delicacies too.
The special and traditional delicacies at this festival is Poooran Poli. The sweet flatbread is made in most households for Holi.
Holi Recipes: Here’s how you can make Gujia at home
Puran Poli is known by different names like paruppu poli in Tamil, holige or obbattu in Kannada and ubbati in Konkani. Every region has its way of preparing it. Puran refers to the rich dal and jaggery stuffing which is covered in white flour.
Puran Poli is often relished with ghee. Making Puran Poli takes a little time, to make the mixture, so we give you the recipe so you can start getting the ingredients beforehand.
1: Rinse the chana dal first very well in water. I didn’t soak the chana dal but you can soak the chana dal for 30 minutes to one hour and then drain the water.
2: in a pressure cooker, cook the chana dal for 5-6 whistles. The dal need not be cooked completely about 85 to 90% cooked is fine. Once the pressure settles down on its own, strain the cooked dal. Keep the dal in the strainer for some minutes so that all the stock is drained. The cooked lentils have to be drained very well. Keep the stock aside. This stock can be used for making Katachi Amti (thin dal) or you can just add it to your veggie dishes or Rotis.
3: heat ghee in a pan and add the dry ginger powder, nutmeg powder, cardamom powder and fennel powder. Saute for a few seconds.
4. Add the cooked chana dal and powdered or grated jaggery. Stir and let this Puran mixture cook on a low flame till the mixture becomes dry. Keep on stirring at intervals.
5. Meanwhile take whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and salt in a bowl mix well.
6. Add a little bit of water and ghee or oil and mix.
7. Begin to knead the dough, adding water as required. The dough should be smooth and soft. Cover and keep aside the dough for 15-20 minutes.
8. The Puran mixture has cooked now and the below pic shows the consistency which should be dry and thick. Let this stuffing mixture cool.
9. Now mash the Puran mixture very well with a potato masher. You can also use a strainer to mash the Puran mixture. There is a piece of equipment called ‘Puran yantra’ which is used in Maharashtrian households to do this job, but I do not have this equipment.
10: take a medium or large size ball from the dough. Roll it 2-3 inches in circumference on a dusted rolling board. Place a portion of Puran mixture in the centre of the rolled dough.
11. Bring the edges together towards the centre as shown in the below pic.
12. Join all the edges and pinch them as shown in the below pic.
13. Sprinkle some flour and start rolling the dough.
14. Make a medium or large circle (poli) as depending upon the size of the dough and puran filling you took. The cover should be rolled a bit thin and not thick.
15. On a heated tawa or griddle, spread some ghee.
16. Place the rolled poli/dough circle on the Tawa.
17. when one side gets browned, turn over and cook the other side till you see some brown spots.
18. Once the second side gets browned, then turn over and apply ghee. If everything is done properly then puran poli will puff up. Make all pooran poli this way and stack them in a casserole or in a kitchen napkin.
19. You can serve puran poli warm or at room temperature with milk, ghee or yogurt/curd.
