Puran Poli is a quintessential Maharashtrian delicacy and you may wonder how it has not featured on My foodcourt in the past 5 years. Yes, My Foodcourt turned 5 this August! I have been neck deep in work, kids and the daily grind. August and now September just zoomed past me and I just realized that it’s been fabulous 5 years of blogging; sharing and interacting with my virtual friends! Its late but we are celebrating nevertheless 🙂
Many festivals in Maharashtra like Holi, Gudi Padwa, Gauri-Ganapati Puja,Dassera feature the Puran Poli as its star attraction, as far as the festival food is concerned. The skills of a good Marathi cook are gauged by the way he/she can make the Puran Poli. My dad is a very good cook and to explain effectively his cooking skills I just say that he can make good Puran Poli’s and Bhakris! I don’t have to say anything else, it’s understood that he is indeed a very good cook 🙂
Regular readers of this blog know that I don’t have a weakness for sweets, in fact far from that and maybe that’s the reason why Puran Poli has not been featured on My Foodcourt. My mom makes one of the best Puran Polis and even I cannot resist eating her Puran Poli. She uses some fresh coconut and Khoya/Khawa/Mawa in addition to the usual Chana dal for the filling to enhance the richness and flavor. The proportion of jaggery and sugar is just apt for my taste buds.
I got a chance to capture the Puran Poli making process this time when I stayed over at my parents place during the Gauri- Ganapati festival. The consistency of the Puran/stuffing, the dough and the skill of rolling them out determine the resultant nature of the Puran Poli. With a little bit of practice you can make decent Puran Polis. The amount of effort put into making Puran Poli is worth every bit.
My Mom made it for many people (~40 Puran Polis) and hence the proportions appear in kg. You can scale it to your requirement. She made the Puran a day in advance, so she didn’t have too much work the next day. Also the left over Puran can be stored in the freezer in a sealed bag/container and used as and when required.
The Puran Poli is usually served with Katachi Amti , made from the leftover stock from cooking the Chana Dal. The stock is spiced up with different masalas to balance the sweetness of the Puran Poli.
Note: This is an indulgent sweet and needs all the oil, ghee, sweetness and richness that is mentioned below. So make this when you are not too conscious of the calories being consumed 🙂
Here’s celebrating 5 years of My Foodcourt with my Mom’s Puran Poli recipe:
My Mom’s Puran Poli recipe
For the Puran (Stuffing)
- xbd kg Wheat Flour
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- Pinch salt of
- rice flour for dusting the Puran Poli
- Cook Chana Dal with twice amount of water, with turmeric in a pressure cooker till very soft but not mashed. (about 2 whistles and ~15 mins on low flame thereafter.)
- Meanwhile roast the Khoya in a pan on low heat till slightly pink/very light brown.
- Grind the Coconut in the mixer to a fine paste without adding water.
- Drain and remove water from the cooked Dal and reserve the water.
- Heat a kadhai and add the dal and on a low flame dry out all the moisture from the Dal.
- Add the jaggery, sugar, coconut paste, roasted Khoya to the dal.
- Cook and stir till the mixture is completely dry. (take care not to burn the mixture)
- Add the nutmeg powder mix well.
- Remove the mixture from the heat and pass it through a Puran press/ Food Mill.
- Keep aside till you are ready with the covering dough. This filling can be made 1-2 days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Sift the wheat flour and the all purpose flour and pinch of salt through a fine mesh sieve.
- Add oil (2-3 tbsp) and water and knead into a soft elastic dough. (You may need to add more water/ oil to get very soft dough)
- Keep the dough covered for about an hour.
- After an hour add about 3/4th Katori oil, salt and little water to make it more soft.
- Take a lemon sized ball of the dough. Flatten it using the finger tips with the help of the Rice flour
- Take a bigger ball of the Puran/stuffing mixture.
- Place it on the flattened dough,seal and cover it with the dough such that the Puran gets stuffed inside the dough.
- Roll out the stuffed dough using the Rice flour for dusting into a round chapatti (as thin as possible), taking care that the Puran/stuffing does not come out and the chapatti does not stick to the surface.
- Heat a non-stick tava/griddle.
- Once rolled out, use the rolling pin to transfer the Puran poli to the tava.
- Cook on both sides till golden brown.
- Remove from the tava.
- Serve hot Puran Poliu2019s with a generous drizzle of hot melted ghee and Katachi Amti (recipe below).
- Katachi Amti Recipe:
- Stock/water left over from cooking the Chana dal for Puran (above) add water if required to make it thinner.
- 3-4 cloves
- 4-5 Black pepper corns
- 1-2 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1-2 tsp cumene seeds
- 7-8 curry leaves torn into pieces with hand
- 1 tsp grated jaggery
- 1 tsp tamarind pulp
- 1 tsp Maharshtrian Kala Masala or Garam Masala
- ~4-5 tbsp chopped fresh Coriander leaves
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp oil
- Heat the oil in a deep pan.
- Add the mustard seeds.
- Once they splutter, add the cloves and peppercorns fry 1-2 second and then add the cumene seeds.
- Add the curry leaves and the coriander leaves.
- Add the Kat/stock .
- Add the jaggery, tamarind pulp, Masala and season with salt. (you can adjust the proportion of jaggery and tamarind to your taste.)
- Bring it to a boil and serve hot with Puran Poli.
Stay Tuned for a fabulous Giveaway coming soon on MyFoodcourt!
Congrats and wish you many more wonderful years ahead. Poli looks so fab …liked the recipe a lot
Congratulations on 5 years of blogging, Madhuli! Quite a milestone. Wishing you many more fun years here. 🙂
Puran poli is a favourite with my husband and daughter though not really my thing. We make a version of this too, but it isn’t as sweet though rich in ghee. Would you believe we eat it with honey?
Congragulations and wishing you and your blog many more delicious years together.
I have never made this at home and I love how it puffs up. I am going to try it once ( i said once ) but i am sure it won’t be half aas good as your mothers. They just look so so good.
Congratulations on completeing 5 yrs of blogging 🙂 I too celebrated my 5th blog anniversary few days back 🙂
and those puran polis are to die for! Lovely…
First of all, 5 years girl !!! That is impressive and this combo is sooooooooooooo wonderful. I have had puran poli, but never katachi amti.
Fantastic recipe nicely explained. May I know what is all purpose flour.
5 years- what a phenomenal milestone- keep up the good work; lovely treat for celebrating !
Thank you Priya 🙂
I was raised in Maharashtra and love Puran Poli a lot. I will make it this time following your recipe.I usually make the dough just like chapathi dough and it does not turn out as good as yours/ moms and yours looks extra watery to make the Polis soft Hah? Thanks
Thank you Malli. Yes a softer dough (more amount of oil as well as water) is the key to really soft Puran Poli as my mom tells me 🙂
ooh! thanks for a great puran poli recipe. I have been wanting to make these with my girls, but never really followed carefully while someone was cooking these for me. This weekend!
Puran poli is such a labor of love! Great post. Congratulations and happy blog birthday 🙂 wishing you many more years of blogging fun.
wow.. look at that all puffed up! looks amazing.. i love holige (thats what we call it in karnataka)
5 years !! and I discover you and your lovely space only now. Such a shame really. But I am thrilled to bits that I have and the first recipe that I bookmark from your website my absolute favourite Puran poli.
Just gorgeous, these puffed up wonders look!
This time, many more eye witnesses are phoning the dexter missouri humane society Empire Tribune or the ET.
hello dear, first of all thanks to you for sharing such a wounderful tips… being frank to you. i have never heard about this type of puran poli… will it taste good???? combination of mava and coconut will it make puran taster… waiting for yur reply