Puran Poli, 2K Visitors And A Thank You Note!!!

Yes, it is celebration time again. This time because SSTT touched 2000 visitors since March 2010. I know there are food blogs out there who have this much traffic in say about a week or so.. but this is big for me. Now, for those of you who have begun to think I made Puran Poli to celebrate 2K visitors I would like to correct you - Nopes! Here's a little story. I wanted to make them for Ugadi/Gudi Paadva but missed making them since we had a simple celebration at home. But the urge to eat puran polis had not died in me - after all we make such delicacies only once in a way! And, just in time for this moment, a friend of mine who is expecting her first baby, asked me if I could make her some. I grabbed the opportunity and made a whole-sale stock of puran polis. And as if all this was'nt enough, I receive this special Thank You note from Sanyukta of Creative Sanyukta. Thank You, gurl! Those of you who have not already seen her blog, take a peek.. she has some really innovative presentations happening there!

I am supposed to pass this to my blogger friends, so here goes!

Madhuri of Cook-curry Nook
Suma of Cakes & More!!
Gulmohar and Nostalgia of Collaborative Curry
Mallika of Veg Bowl
Priya of Priya's Easy and Tasty Recipes
Jothi of Panch Pakwan

And, all of you who continue to drop by SSTT...this one is for you, too. Thank You!!

Now for the recipe of this very popular Maharashtrian sweet treat - Puran Poli!

Ingredients
3 Cups - Maida (All purpose flour)
2 1/2 Cups Toor Dal (Some people use a mixure of toor and channa dals. If doing so, then make sure you soak the channa dal overnight so that it gets cooked well)
1 1/4 Cup Jaggery, made into tiny chunks (You can use jaggery powder to make things easier!)
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Cardamom seeds, powdered
A pinch of salt
Oil
Ghee
Water

Method
- Mix together maida, salt, turmeric
- Pour water and make a soft, pliable dough. Ensure you do not add too much water
- Towards the end of the kneading process add about half a cup of oil and knead using both your hands applying pressure and simultaneously incorporating the oil into the dough. Continue kneading for about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Pour another 4-5 tbsp of oil over the dough
- Cover and set aside for about 2 hours
- Pressure cook the toor dal with just enough water to cover the dal by about 1 inch in the pressure cooker
- Once the pressure has released, drain any excess water and mash the dal to form a soft dough-like texture. It is essential that you have no water content left after you pressure cook the dal so that your stuffing (Puran) turns out super-soft and easy to handle
- In a large non-stick saucepan or a large wok, heat about 2 tsp of oil and transfer the cooked dal
- Add the jaggery chunks/powder and stir for about 20 minutes on a medium-low flame until the jaggery melts and incorporates itself into the dal to form a soft stuffing for your polis
- Stir in the powdered cardamom seeds and continue stirring in order to evaporate any liquid content left over in the stuffing. Turn off the heat as soon as you have a soft dough-like stuffing/puran ready
- Now clear up your counter space and set up your work area with a bowl of oil, a bowl of all purpose flour to dust, your rolling pin and...roll up your sleeves!
- Make lime sized balls of the puran and maida dough
- Using your hands made tiny cup like shapes out of the maida by rotating the dough between your thumbs and fingers (Or you could opt to simply roll them out into a circle using a rolling pin)

- In the center of each 'cup' place a ball of puran, seal as you would a paratha and set aside (like in the picture on the right side). Do not make too many of these at one go since they tend to dry out and you might have difficulty in rolling them out. Make your polis in batches instead
- Once you have about 10 of these ready, on a well oiled surface, roll them like you would chapathis/paratas, only being extra careful so that you do not end up with puran outside the dough. Use smooth, stretching motion to roll these babies, dusting flour along the way
- Place a griddle/tawa on a high flame and when its screaming hot, turn down to medium-low heat
- Place rolled out puran polis on the griddle and cook on both sides using genourous amounts of oil
- Serve hot with ghee and warm milk

Makes about 35 puran polis.