Today I made Puran Poli for lunch. I usually make two varieties of filling for it – one with Chana Dal and the other with Sweet Potato during winters. Its a very nutritious “sweet” dish, thats not overly sweet.
Filling – Cook the Chana Dal and mix it with a sugar/jaggery syrup to make it into a dry halwa consistency, after adding a couple of TBSPs of ghee . I cook the Chana Dal using very little water (OPOS style), and make jaggery syrup using the OPOS hack. This time I haven’t completely crushed the chana dal but the filling still tastes fine.
Usually the Puran Poli is made with Maida (refined flour) but I use whole wheat flour.
The method of making the Poli is the same as making a paratha. Take a dollop of the filling and place it inside a ball of dough. Roll out like you roll out a paratha. Use a little ghee on both sides as you turn it over and once golden brown, remove it from the tawa and serve.
As a side dish I made the mildly spicy North Indian “Seetaphal Ki Subzi”. This is usually served at the famous Paratha shops in Chandni Chowk’s parathe wali gali along with their Parathas. I have simply used the Masalas basis my memory, but the taste is the same, so I guess I got them right.
Recipe for the Seetaphal Ki Subzi – Seetaphal is the small green coloured pumpkin that has yellow pulp on the inside.
1 medium sized Seetaphal, remove the skin and dice it. If its tender the seeds would be tiny and you need not remove them, but if its a mature pumpkin, remove the seeds.
Masala used – 1 TBSP each of roasted Jeera, Coriander seeds and Saunf (Fennel) ground in a mortar/pestle, 1 TSP each of Turmeric, Amchoor, Pepper powder, Garam Masala, Salt to taste, Green Chillies slit, Curry leaves.
I Pressure Baked this subzi and it tasted great. You can make it the traditional way – steam or cook the diced Seetaphal and then do a tadka of the above Masala with a little oil.
The same Masala combination can be used with bottle gourd or Lauki and the results are just as yummy.
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