Supersoft Mini Puran Polis

Delicious Maharashtrian Puran Polis

This week’s video features the queen of Maharashtrian cuisine – the puran poli.  As it’s best to try and make smaller puran polis to begin with, I’ll be showing you how to make a smart, mini version of puran polis. Flavourful, soft puran polis that are barely 6″ in diameter! (They are generally 8 to 9″ in diameter.)

This delicious recipe is a little elaborate, but, trust me, worth the effort. Do check it out. You’ll be glad you did!

Puran polis are luscious flatbreads filled with a delicious, sweetened chickpea filling called puran. In Maharashtra, people traditionally enjoy them with warm milk or by generously drizzling pure ghee all over them. They make them especially during the festival of Holi. This is an easier, smarter way to make the famed Maharashtrian puran poli.

Ingredients

For the puran (sweetened chickpea filling):

1 cup chana dal (split chick peas)

¾ cup grated jaggery

¼ cup sugar

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp oil

2 tsp pure ghee

1 tsp ground cardamom

For the outer covering:

1 cup atta (whole wheat flour)

2 tbsp maida (all-purpose flour)

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp turmeric powder

3 tsp oil

For rolling the puran polis:

Rice flour (or wheat flour)

Procedure

1. Wash the chana dal well and soak it in 3 cups of water for around 2 hours.
2. Add the turmeric powder and 2 tsp oil to the soaked chana dal and transfer the container to a pressure cooker. Just before the cooker comes to full pressure, lower the heat and cook the chana dal for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and open the cooker after around 15 minutes.
3. While the chana dal is cooking in the pressure cooker, start preparing the dough. Sift the atta and maida. Mix in the salt and turmeric powder, and 1 tsp oil. Make a soft but slightly sticky dough with room temperature water. Cover and set it aside for around 30-40 minutes.
4. Check the cooked dal. It should be soft but not mashed to a pulp.
5. Strain off the water from the dal. This can be used to make a special kind of Maharashtrian dal called katachi amti. It’s a mildly spiced to which you have to add a tablespoon or two of puran to make it even tastier.
6. Transfer the drained, well-cooked dal to a non-stick pan and mash it with a potato masher.
7. Add the jaggery and sugar and cook the puran on medium heat, stirring continuously. The mix will be loose and runny to start with. After around 10 minutes, add the ghee to the puran, and continue to cook it so it dries up some more. In another 5 minutes, the puran will be ready. Turn off the heat. To check if the puran is of the right consistency, stick a spoon into it. If the consistency is right, it will be able to hold the spoon upright. (Do this test after cooling the puran for around 5 minutes.)
8. While still hot, press the puran through a puran machine or a fine sieve to puree it to a smooth pulp without any lumps.
9. Mix the ground cardamom into the puran.
10. Add the remaining 2 tsp of oil to the dough and knead it till it’s soft and easily stretchable. Drizzle a few drops of oil on it.
11. Divide the dough into eight equal-sized balls. Keep the dough balls covered so they don’t dry out.
12. Shape eight equal-sized balls of puran, each one around 1 ½ times the size of the dough balls. This might leave you with a little extra puran which could then be used to make the earlier mentioned katachi amti.
13. Start heating the tava or non-stick gridle. Set the heat to medium.
14. Take a ball of dough and press it into the shape of a cup. Stuff a ball of puran inside it, draw the edges of the dough together, seal the mouth of the cup and lightly pat the stuffed dough ball to flatten it into a thick patty.
15. Applying even but light pressure, roll the flattened dough ball out using rice flour till it’s around 6″ in diameter, flipping it at least once so both sides of the puran poli are thinned out evenly and the puran spreads to the edges of the puran poli.
16. Cook the puran poli on the heated tava. Flip it over after around half a minute. Drizzle around 1 tsp of ghee all around the poli so it puffs up and develops brown spots on the underside. Flip the puran poli again, and drizze 1 more tsp of oil around it so the second side too develops brown spots all over.
17. Fold the puran poli and remove to a plate lined with a paper napkin.
18. Cook all the puran polis and after they cool down completely, transfer them to an airtight container.

Enjoy!