Puran Poli-- Holi Special-Back to my roots

March brings along with it two major festivals in a Marathi calender.First comes Holi where all old and negative is burnt and new is welcomed with a burst of colors. Holi time is the time to bring the mischief and naughtiness in ones life. Be it old or young, all join in the color game. As with all festivities, no event is complete with the special food on the table. Holi Time is though reserved for Puran Poli. We even had  a little song assigned for puran poli and holi day. The race began the night before the color day, which is after the holi day.  All plans were made and all jobs were assigned to each member of the gang. We had one in charge of the  balloon and water, one who would make fake calls and get all kids down. Whoever was the unlucky one to be the last one coming out of his house was the one with most color. This was the day, we kept reserved for settling tabs as no one would ever get in trouble for coloring someones face, hands or any part of the body. My Mom was the only one left with no color on her and she always counted the time and things she needed to get done after we came home.She prayed continuously on Holi day that her home be spared with color. We had guests almost all weekends and festival days. Not one festival was spared when we did not have any one for lunch or dinner. So she took extra care for spreading fresh linens and sheets on beds, changing cushion covers and we came home with a riot of color.I can only imagine the terror she must have gone through all the growing years that we played holi colors. The young lovers and teens had special arrangements on Holi to color their most cherished person and all was OK on that day; at least they thought so, until one of us saw that and later used that for the regular free supply of goodies. So in many ways Holi and color bring back fond memories of my lost childhood.Here in US, Holi is a quiet affair, People play color in backyards or someones home. My elder son was lucky to play it a couple of times.

Prep Time; 10 mins

Cook Time; 2 hours

makes: 20-25 Roti's of 8 inches approx.

you will need

For the Puran;

3 cups Chana Dal

2 cups Gul or Jaggery

1 cup sugar

Or Use 3.5 cups Jaggery alone

In apressure cooker, add the washed dal and 7-8 cups water. Pressure cook for abt 7 whistles. let cool. once cool, strain the dal so that all water is separated and the dal is dry.  Now take this cooked dal in the same cooker pan, and run this cooked dal through the stick blender till you get the dal pureed and add gul and sugar. On low heat, cook this till the mixture starts leaving sides and starts sticking to the spoon. Keep stirring this from the time you put it on heat. You will reach a point when your arms will talk to you. The mixture will look dry and The spoon if made to stand will stand on it's own....your puran is done...

for the cover;

For the cover:

2 cups Flour/Atta

2 cups All purpose Flour

Salt to taste

Generous Oil..and water..Around Half cup oil would be good enough.

Knead the dough like regular roti...cover with liberal amount of oil.. keep aside for 2 hrs. Then alternating with a tsp of oil and water knead it into  a soft dough. The dough should not be sticky but should be stretchy.

To Make the poli,

Make balls of puran and the dough and then like stuffed parathas, make the poli's....on a medium heated tava, cook the poli well... When eating apply ghee and serve with warm milk. Or make Katachi Amti.

Pictorial as follows

Boiled dal

Dal processed through a stick blender and jaggery dissolved in the mashed dal

Sign that the puran is cooked.If the wooden spoon stand son its own in the center, Puran is done.

All cooled and ready to be rolled into  a few poli

Make equal balls of the puran and the atta.

Get Set Go..

Puran Poli Roasting on  a hot Tawa.

Ready to eat. They stay well in room temperature for 3-4 days or on fridge for upto 2 weeks.