Puran Poli – Sweet Flatbread
- Total Time: 4 hours 30 mins
- Yield: 8 flatbreads 1x
Description
Puran poli is a traditional Marathi and Gujarati sweet dish served during major festivals in India.
Ingredients
For the Dough
- All Purpose Flour - 1 cup (240 ml)
- Wheat Flour - 1 cup (240 ml)
- Salt - 1/4 tsp or as per taste
- Ghee - 2 tbsp (30 ml)
For the Puran
- Bengal gram lentils (Chana Dal) - 3/4 cup (180 ml)
- Jaggery (Gur) - 1/3 cup (80 ml)
- Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
- Ghee - 1/2 cup (120 ml) (you can use butter too as an option)
Instructions
- First we will prepare the dough, mix wheat flour and all-purpose flour in a big bowl, add salt and ghee and knead well with little luke warm water to prepare a soft dough like we prepare for making chapatis.When the dough is ready keep it aside for 15 minutes covered, this process will let the dough to rise a little.
- Time to prepare the Puran mixture now, we have soaked the chana dal for 4 hours already. Take the soaked chana dal, pressure cook it with little water, just about enough to cover the dal in the cooker, after one whistle switch off the flame and let the dal sit in stream for another 5 – 7 minutes, keep it in a bowl to cool a little and then grind the dal in a mixer to a thick paste.
- Heat ghee in a kadai, when ghee melts add jaggery to it and keep stirring on medium flame till it melts. Now add the thick chana dal paste to it and stir continuously, the melted jaggery will be nicely absorbed and cooked with the chana dal in about 7 – 9 minutes. Sprinkle cardamom powder to it and switch off the flame and allow the mixture to cool.
- When the mixture cools, make lemon size balls from it similarly prepare balls from the dough also. With the help of a rolling-pin prepare small circle from the dough and place puran mixture on it and gently close it with the help of your hand to make one stuffed ball.
- Take a rolling-pin, gently roll the ball prepared with stuffing by dusting the flour on both the sides. Once it’s rolled , heat the tawa and place the puran poli onto it for cooking, gently keep checking from both the side by spreading little ghee on both sides of the puran poli.
- It should be cooked crisp from both sides. When its cooked from both sides nice and crisp then your puran poli is ready to be served, don’t forget to add dollops of ghee onto it before serving.
- Prep Time: 4 hours
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Indian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 flatbread
- Calories: 260
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is jaggery and can I substitute it?
Jaggery (gur) is an unrefined cane sugar common in Indian cooking with a rich, caramel-like flavor. The recipe uses ? cup to sweeten the chana dal filling. If you can't find it, raw cane sugar or dark brown sugar can work as a substitute, though the flavor will be slightly different.
Why does the chana dal need to soak for 4 hours?
The recipe explicitly states 'we have soaked the chana dal for 4 hours already' before pressure-cooking. Soaking the Bengal gram lentils softens them, reduces cooking time to just one cooker whistle, and makes them easier to grind into the thick paste that forms the puran filling.
How do I roll out the stuffed dough without the filling breaking through?
Work gently — press rather than force the rolling pin — and dust flour on both sides. Cook the finished flatbreads on a tawa with a little ghee on each side until crisp on both sides, then serve with extra dollops of ghee on top. 
