Recipe of Puran Poli - How to Make Puran Poli

In eastern & southern parts of India, Puran Poli is made in a slightly different way, as in these places no sweet ingredients are used but instead, salt is used with the lentil and the dish is consumed as Dal Paratha, in normal day to day situations too, in breakfast and also in routine meals. The easy Puran Poli Recipe described below is the one that is mainly taken in the state of Maharashtra & contains Jaggery as an essential component.

Ingredients Used in Puran Poli Recipe

A) Ingredients Used to Make Puran in Recipe of Puran Poli

1) Chana Dal (Bengal Gram Lentil) – 2 cups

2) Jaggery (Clean) – 1 cup

3) Ghee/Oil – 2 Tablespoons

4) Water - 3 cups

5) Salt – 1/4^th teaspoon

6) Cardamom Powder – 1 teaspoon

7) Fennel Powder – ½ teaspoon

8) Nutmeg Powder – A small pinch

9) Dry Ginger Powder (Sonth) – 1/4^th teaspoon (optional)

10) Besan (Gram Flour) – 1/4^th  teaspoon

B) Ingredients Used to Make Poli in Recipe for Puran Poli

1) Whole Wheat Flour – 2 Cups

2) White Flour – 1 Cup

3) Salt – 1/4^th teaspoon

4) Ghee for giving Moyan – 3 Tablespoons & Ghee for frying Puran Poli – 1 ½ cup

How to Make Puran Poli at Home

A) How to Make Puran Poli – Puran Preparation

• Wash Chana Dal (Bengal Gram Lentil) thoroughly in normal water. Then in a deep vessel pan take 4 to 5 cups of water, as previously mentioned in the ingredients. Dip the Chana dal next in the water for 7 to 8 hours. After the stipulated time, take out the water-soaked dal from the pan & discard the extra water in which the dal was soaked.
• Now in a pressure cooker, take 3 cups of water and put it on a medium flame burner. Put the previously mentioned water-soaked Chana dal into the pressure cooker and close its lid and let it boil, till 5 to 6 whistles are emitted from the pressure cooker.
• Later switch off the burner and let the cooker cool at the room temperature. After that open the lid of the cooker and separate the dal and the water by a sieve.

• The extra water of the dal remaining is stored in a bowl and kept aside. Allow the dal to be cooled and then put them on a plate and mash them nicely by hand, after adding 1/4^th teaspoon of salt.
• Put a pan on a low medium flame burner and add jaggery and left-over water of boiled dal (which was collected previously after sieving the dal through a sieve, and before mashing it) into this pan and stir it. After a few minutes, the jaggery will dissolve totally. Then switch off the burner and allow the liquified jaggery to cool down.
• Next, take a clean handkerchief or clean piece of cotton cloth and put it on a sieve. Then this sieve is now placed in a bowl and now sieve & then pass the dissolved jaggery through this. If any extra residue is present then this would stay back on the handkerchief, over the sieve, and clean liquid jaggery is collected in the bowl. This clean Jaggery is used for the next step.
• Now take a non – stick pan or Karahi and put it on a low medium flame burner, and then add 2 tablespoons of Ghee/Oil on this Karahi/pan. Allow this to get hot. When oil/ghee becomes hot then add mashed dal (which was previously prepared) in it and stir the mixture nicely, so that the dal gets mixed thoroughly with oil/ghee.   
• Stir & fry the above-mentioned contents for 4 to 5 minutes after which the liquid jaggery is added to it. Stir the mixture constantly, otherwise, because of the presence of Jaggery, the contents will stick to the base of the pan and it will get burnt. So, to avoid this unfortunate incident, the mixture should be stirred continuously.

• Add 1/4^th teaspoon of Besan to the above mixture (along with the optional dry ginger powder, mentioned in the ingredients) and stir again. When the contents become semi-solid in form then add fennel powder & nutmeg powder to the contents and again stir it for 1 to 2 minutes. When a nice aroma starts to come out then add Cardamom powder to the contents & immediately switch off the burner and mix all things together nicely.
• Later transfer this mixture to a plate and allow it to get cooled at room temperature. This is the Puran component (which is used as stuffing material) of the preparation.

B) How to Make Puran Poli – Poli Preparation

• Mix whole wheat flour, white flour, and salt altogether, which have been mentioned earlier in the ingredients needed for making Poli. Next, add Ghee to this mixture and mix the components uniformly with the tips of fingers, so that the flour mixture now gets softened. This part of the procedure is known as Moyan.
• Later add slowly water in increments to the previous mixture and mash it gradually, so that a  dough-like preparation is created, like the one used for making Chapatis, in Indian homes. Cover this dough preparation for 15 minutes by a large bowl. Later divide the dough into many smaller equal portions, like the ones used to make individual Chapati pieces.

C) How to Make Puran Poli  - The Final Steps

• Take one small ball of dough, which was described in Poli preparation and roll it into a Puri like soft mass, by using a rolling pin. Then take 2 tablespoons of the final stuffing (of dal mixture) prepared in the Puran preparation and put it into the center of the Puri like mass-created.

• Next, all the edges of the Puri like mass are pulled together (bringing it over the mass of stuffing present inside) and its edges are joined together by the pressure of fingers, to form a sac-like mass & finally give little pressure from above.

• Later this mass is rolled into a Chapati like shape by using a rolling pin, after sprinkling a little dry flour on it.
• Now put a non- stick Tawa, on a medium flame burner. Once it becomes hot then place this dal stuffed Chapati like preparation (described above) on it. Fry it from both sides. When brown spots start coming on the texture of its upper side then add Ghee/Oil on it, covering & spreading it on the whole surface of this Chapati like preparation.

• Next, the Chapati like preparation is turned over and Ghee/Oil is spread on the now whole of the upper surface of the preparation and like this fry both sides of the preparation uniformly.   
• Once the preparation is fully cooked then transfer it to a Casserole, or any other container with a covering. Like this way all the multiple pieces of stuffing containing Chapati pieces are fried, so that the final dish of Puran Poli is produced, by using the Recipe of Puran Poli, as discussed above.

• Puran Poli is ready now for serving hot. Here it should be mentioned that this dish tastes best when served hot. If the preparation becomes cold then before serving, put a little Ghee/Oil in the Tawa and fry the Puran Poli once again (on both sides). This will make it suitable for serving to the guests in a fresh form.
• Hopefully, the Recipe for Puran Poli as described above by us would help all those who have never prepared this dish before, to savor this tasty dish, without any hassles in the confines of their own home.