PURAN POLI / UPPITTU / BOBBATTU

Puran poli is a flatbread loaded down with a sweet lentil filling made from skinned spilt bengal gram (chana dal), jaggery and ghee, making it soft and melt in mouth from inside. Puran poli is a popular Maharashtrian recipe made during Ganesh Chaturthi or Diwali or any other festive occasion. In Marathi language the sweet filling is called as Puran and the bread is called as Poli, hence the name.

Puran poli has a great deal numerous varieties and is set up in various manners in all over the nation.  The various names for the flatbread include Puran poli or Vedmi in Gujarati, Puran poli in Marathi, Uppittu in Malayalam and Tamil, Baksham or Bobbattu or Oliga in Telugu, Andhra Pradesh and Pole/Polae in Telangana, Holige or Obbattu in Kannada, Ubbatti or just Poli in Konkani.

Here is the recipe for the delicious delicacy "Puran Poli".

Ingredients:

For puran mixture (Sweet filling):

• Chana dal (skinned spilt bengal gram) - 1 cup
• Powdered jaggery - 1 cup
• Water - 1 cup, for pressure cooking the chana dal
• Ghee - 2 tablespoons
• Fennel powder - 1 teaspoon
• Dry ginger powder (saunth) - 1 teaspoon
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Nutmeg powder - 1/4 teaspoon

For the poli:

• Whole wheat flour - 1.5 cups
• All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
• Oil or ghee (clarified butter) - 4 tablespoons
• Salt - 1/2 teaspoon or as required
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon (optional)
• Water - As required (to knead the dough)
• Oil or ghee - As required (for frying the puran poli)

PROCEDURE:

Making the puran mixture (sweet stuffing):

1. Wash the chana dal very well and soak in enough water for 30 minutes and then drain the water.
2. Cook the soaked chana dal for 5-6 whistles in a pressure Cooker with a cup of water. The dal need to be cooked completely, but intact. 
3. Once the pressure settles down on its own, strain the cooked dal. The cooked lentils have to be drained very well.
4. Heat ghee in a pan and add the dry ginger powder, nutmeg powder, cardamom powder and fennel powder. Saute for a few seconds.
5. Add the cooked chana dal and powdered or grated jaggery. Stir and let this puran mixture cook on a low flame till it starts to leave the sides of the pan and is thickened nicely. 
6. Let this stuffing mixture cool. Now mash the puran mixture very well with a potato masher.

Making Puran Poli:

1. Meanwhile take whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, turmeric powder and salt in a bowl and mix well. Add a little bit of water and ghee or oil and mix. 
2. Make a smooth and soft dough by adding water as required, cover and keep aside for 15-20 minutes.
3. 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 center of the rolled dough.
4. Bring the edges together towards the center, Join all the edges and pinch the edges together to seal the filling. Sprinkle some flour and start rolling the dough.
5. Make a medium or large circle (poli) as depending upon the size of the dough and puran filling you took.

Roasting Puran Poli:

1. Heat a griddle or tawa and transfer the Puran Poli on the griddle. Cook from both the sides until brown spots appear.
2. Apply ghee on both the sides and press the Puran Poli using back of a ladle and fry until golden brown from both the sides. Make all the Puran Poli in the same manner.
3. Once cooked, remove it to the plate, apply some more ghee on top and serve hot immediately with milk, ghee or yogurt/curd. It can be served along with Katachi Amti or Khamang Kakdi.

Notes:-

• Instead of whole wheat flour, you can also make the dough with all purpose flour or half-half of both the flours.
• Knead the dough to a soft consistency. It should be like a chapati dough. Adding some ghee while kneading the dough makes the poli crispy.
• The amount of filling should be equal to the amount of dough.
• Adding dry ginger powder to the filling helps with digestion but can be optional and can be replaced with crushed fresh ginger.
• While rolling the puran poli, be careful. If it breaks a little, then no issues. Just add some dry flour to that part.
• Apply ghee on the poli only when the brown spots appear. It will make it crispy.
• Reserve the water from the cooked dal to make Katachi amti (thin dal) or you can just add it to your veggie dishes or rotis..

Variations:-

• There are many varieties of Puranpoli including peanut, sugar, coconut, sesame and groundnut flavors. 
• Sometimes grated coconut is added in Konkan & Maharashtra. Coconut palm jaggery or sugar may be used. Similarly, a mix of sugar and jaggery can be used as a sweetening agent. 
• Normally nutmeg is used as a flavoring which can be replaced by cardamom or sometimes both elsewhere. 
• The size and thickness of puranpoli also vary greatly, in Gujarat where the stuffing used is toor dal, it will be small in size and thickness will be more, whereas in holige with coconut stuffing it will be larger in size and with less thickness.
• Opputtu in Tamil Nadu is a golden yellow sweet pancake popularly sold in trains by the hawkers. "Kadambur opputtu" is a famous, and it is available in coconut and brown sugar flavors.
• In the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, it is eaten with Wada - A pakora made of all lentils. The Puran Poli made on khapar is very famous in this poli is big in size and is roast on a big pot made of clay called kapar is heated from down.
• In Andhra Pradesh and other places, Moong dal, Chana or a mix is used.

Have you tried this "Puran Poli" recipe? Please feed us with your comments below.