Holi Spl: Puran Poli

Its Holi tomorrow and it seems incomplete without puran poli (sweet flat bread). Every year holi has meant eating puran poli with either milk or ghee. Sometimes, we head to the nearest sweetmeat shop or sometimes, my mother's friend's home for some yummy poli. This year, me and my mom decided to give making it a try.

Here's how

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chana dal (split bengal gram)
• 1 cup grated jaggery
• 1 1/2 cup maida (flour)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3/4 cup water

Method:

• First, prepare the dough by mixing maida, salt, 2 tsp of oil and water. Knead it till it is really soft.
• Spread it roughly in a shallow vessel and make impressions with your fingers. Pour oil in it and cover it. Knead it after 30 minutes.
• Repeat the process 2-3 times.
• In the meantime, bring 1 1/4 cup of water to a boil and add chana dal to it. Cook it till it is soft, not mashed. The water will froth as it starts to boil, throw the froth.
• Once done, strain it of all the water, but do not throw the broth.
• Add one cup of grated jaggery to chana dal and cook it in low heat till it is semi dry.
• Grind it in a grinder, or in a puran yantra till it becomes a smooth paste.
• Now to make the polis, take a portion of the dough that is bigger than the size of a dime, spread it in a circle on your palm.
• Take a small ball of the chana dal and jaggery mixture (puran) and place it in the center of the circle.
• Now cover the filling and roll it out gently into a flat bread (poli). Use rice flour to provide friction between the poli and the rolling surface.
• Cook it on a tava and serve with ghee or milk.

Puran poli is usually eaten with a side dish of kut and rice. Scrape out the remaining puran from the grinder or the puran yantra and add it to the broth saved earlier. Cook it in a low flame and temper it with curry leaves, asafeotida, chili powder, red chilies, cumin, turmeric and mustard.