Puran Poli - Indian Flatbread with a stuffing of lentil cooked with Jaggery.

I love Puran Poli and made these for Gudi Padwa. These are made for special days and mostly for festivals. Gudi Padwa is the festival of Maharashtra which is celebrated to ring in the Hindu new year.

Now in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh this festival is called Ugadi. In Tamil Nadu, it is Puthandu and Baisakhi in Punjab. The Sindhis call it Cheti Chand and the Manipuris call it Sajibu Cheiraoba.

Also Puran Poli or Puranachi Poli is made in other states of India too and known as Holige, Obattu, Bobbatlu, Bhakshalu and Poli. Whatever name you call it , it is just divine...

I followed the recipe from one of my dear blogger friend Pavithra. Her blog Dishes from my Kitchen has such amazing recipes with detailed step by step instructions. Her presentation and clicks are mesmerising and professional. It was a pleasure to use her recipe and I was happy as I made the Puran Poli for the very first time and everybody at home loved it. Click here to check out her blog and check the original recipe for Obattu/Puran Poli.

Ingredients :

For the Poli -Flatbread 

1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1 cup Wheat Flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp warm oil
Water as needed

For the Puran - Stuffing
1 1/2 cups Chana dal /Bengal Gram Dal
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
2 cups Jaggery
10 Cardamoms (powdered)
1 tbsp Ghee
Ghee for roasting
Some wheat flour dusting

Preparation :

Prepare the dough for the Poli /Flatbread. Mix together all the ingredients in a mixing bowl listed under the ingredients for the Poli except water. Add water little at a time. Knead the dough well. Add some oil , cover and keep aside for about 5 hours.

Prepare the Lentil Stuffing. Wash and soak Chana Dal for about 1/2 hour. Then cook it in a pressure cook with 1 cup water , turmeric and salt. Cook until fully cooked for about 3 whistles.

Now take the cooled dal and drain if you have any water and mash it to a fine paste using a food processor.

Heat ghee in a thick bottom pan or Kadhai. Add the mashed Chana dal and the jaggery. The jaggery will melt and keep cooking on medium flame till the mixture thickens. *

Get if off the flame and add the powdered cardamoms and keep aside. The mixture will further thicken and dry out once it cools down. Now divide the dough into 10 -12 equal sized balls and likewise divide the cooled stuffing mixture into 10-12 equal sized balls.

Now its like making any stuffed paratha- You roll the dough ball into a small circle using a little flour for dusting. Now place the stuffing onto the circle. Close it and press gently so as to be able to roll it into a paratha/roti. Roll it gently using a little flour.

 Now fry this Puran Poli on a heated griddle/Tawa using some ghee. Cook on both sides.

Your Puran Poli are ready to be served. Serve warm with some ghee and a glass of milk. Its simply divine...

* I have used a different method for step#4. I added the jaggery with the chana dal paste and cooked  them together. Pavithra melted the jaggery first and strained it. Then she used this with the dal paste and cooked them together.