Puran/Paruppu Poli (Stuffed Indian Sweet Bread)

Puran or Paruppu Poli is a traditional stuffed Indian sweet bread prepared for festival occasions. In some places along with Bengal gram, little coconut is added in the stuffing. Some use sugar instead of jaggery to make the stuffing sweet. But my choice is Bengal gram with coconut and jaggery as it gives a wonderful taste. The preparation is very simple.

For the given quantity of ingredients I got 12 to 13 medium sized polis.

Ingredients

• For stuffing
  • Bengal gram or chick pea – 1 cup
  • Powdered jaggery – 1 cup
  • Grated coconut – half cup (optional)
  • Cardamom – few
• For outer dough
  • All purpose flour or Maida – 1 heaped cup
  • Turmeric powder – generous pinch
  • Sesame oil/any oil – 2 table spoon
  • Ghee – to shallow fry poli
  • Salt – pinch
  • Plantain leaf or aluminium foil or polythene sheet (25 cm x 25 cm) – 1 no

Method

• Dough: Add turmeric powder, salt to maida; knead it to a soft dough with little water and 1 table spoon of oil; apply remaining 1 table spoon of oil on the surface and keep for minimum 3 to 4 hours; this is necessary to make thin poli.

• Stuffing: Soak Bengal gram for one hour, boil it with pinch of turmeric as just done; drain and keep it for cooling; then put this in a blender and grind it to a dry powder without water; remove lumps if any; powder cardamom finely.

• Add jaggery in a pan, heat it in low flame till it fully melts; this may take 2 to 3 minutes.

• Add grated coconut, powdered dal and cardamom powder; switch off gas, mix well and cool it; knead it and it should be soft (not too dry) so that it is easy to shape it like a thin disc; if needed sprinkle some water and knead.

• Poli: Shape the dough and stuffing into lemon sized balls separately; the dough ball size should be little smaller than the stuffing ball size; now apply little oil on the aluminium foil/plantain leaf/polythene sheet (I used aluminium foil); keep one dough ball on the sheet; with oiled fingers, pat it to a small disc.

• Keep one ball of stuffing on it and close it.

• With oiled fingers press gently to make a bigger thin disc; heat a skillet; lift the rolled poli gently and keep it on the hot skillet carefully.

• Cook both sides using little ghee and remove; repeat for remaining dough also.

• Fully stuffed soft sweet polis are now ready.

• Here are the cutaway sections of Puran/Paruppu Poli (Stuffed Indian Sweet Bread).

Tips

• By this above method, thin and fully stuffed soft polis can be easily prepared with less ghee.