Indian cuisine is so vast that it would need a life-time for anyone to fully understand and know it all. Whenever I meet new people from different parts of India, there is always a discussion on food. During a recent meeting with a person from south India, there was a discussion on local foods. One of the dishes that was discussed was puran poli. It is undoubtedly on the most popular sweet dishes of Maharashtra, which is prepared by roasting delicious chana dal and jaggery stuffed puran poli in clarified butter. Puran poli is prepared specially on festivals and everyone enjoys eating this delectable sweet dish.  It is super easy to make this dish at home and you can always prepare it before hand and keep it in air tight container. They keep good for three to five days.
India, being a predominantly vegetarian country, has a large variety of vegetarian dishes and I can’t think of any other country which combines flour and lentils in a sweet dish too. Different communities in India have their own version of sweet shallow fried bread, a toothsome layer of sweetened toor dal wrapped in a pastry shell. The Maharashtrians call it puran poli and in Karnataka it is called obbattu. Obbattu is an unleavened, traditional flatbread made with all-purpose flour and stuffed with sweetened Bengal gram and some recipes also include coconut.
With the changes in traditions, cultures and rituals all over India, there are various types and methods available to prepare puran poli that varies according to states and regions. In Nagpur, use of sugar is common in puran poli, whereas in Maharashtra, stuffing is quite less. In south India, stuffing is prepared with jaggery and coconut. The Parsi people use dry fruits and essence and make it like a pudding with one layer on one side.
In Maharashtra, puran poli is commonly prepared with chana dal. Half sugar and half jaggery is used to make the stuffing. Dal is firstly steamed in a pressure cooker until it is completely soft to crush. A jaggery or sugar is then added to it. This mixture must be completely mashed, so that no whole lentil is visible in the mixture. For the covering, whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour is mixed with water and milk. The dough formed is used for the outer covering of the puran poli. Just like normal paratha, the stuffing of dal and jaggery, which is commonly known as puran, is filled inside the outer covering and is then pressed lightly with the rolling pin in round shape disk. The poli first has to be roasted on a pan from both the sides until it is cooked and is golden brown in colour. A home-made ghee (clarified butter) is used for frying the puran poli which makes it even more delicious. It is very easy to make and easy to eat. They are kind of like paratha and can be eaten after few days too. Some people also use khoya, cashew and almonds powder and cardamom powder for the additional flavours.
When a dish becomes popular then food enthusiasts start making new versions of the same. Ravyachi puran poli is made with rava, instead of the wheat flour, rava is mixed with milk and is used for outside covering and stuffing is made of wheat flour like regular puran poli, but stuffing is made from fresh strawberries and rava. It tastes delicious and is a treat for kids and strawberry lovers. Tikhat or spicy puran poli has a spicy stuffing and is made with gram lentils, turmeric, chilli, cumin seeds, pepper, coriander and salt and the covering is made from wheat flour and all-purpose flour. A perfectly prepared puran poli will taste heavenly and is a work of skill and required practice to make it perfect.

Puran Poli

Ingredients
Refined flour 2 cups
Chana dal ½ cup
Salt to taste
Clarified butter 5 tbsp.
Sugar 1/3 cup
Jaggery 1/3 cup
Green cardamom powder ½ tsp

Method
Sift the refined flour in a bowl and add 2 tbsp clarified butter and salt.
Mix well to combine and add lukewarm water gradually and knead to a soft dough.
Cover and keep aside to rest for 20-25 minutes.
In the meanwhile, prepare the stuffing. Wash chana dal and soak it for 2-3 hours.
Cook the chana dal in a heavy bottom container with adequate water and salt.
Cook till the dal is completely cooked, remove from flame and drain the water.
Blend the boiled dal in a blender to make a paste.
In a heavy bottom pan, take the chana dal paste and add sugar and jaggery.
Stir continuously to avoid burning the mixture.
Add cardamom powder to the mixture and keep aside.
Divide the dough into lemon sized dough balls.
Take a dough ball and roll it flat, apply some ghee on the rolling pin and roll into 3-4 inch diameter.
Place adequate filling and roll again to a circular disk.
Cook over medium heat on a hot plate, flip to cook from other side too.
Apply clarified butter on one side and cook on the buttered side to brown the puran poli, serve hot.

*Chef Tarun Kapoor, Culinary Mastermind,  USA. He may be contacted at [email protected]