Come Ganesh Chaturthi and everyone is excited to bring Bappa home. The 10-day festival marks the birth anniversary of Lord Ganesha, and the day is celebrated with a lot of joy, fervour and, of course, sweets. Since the lord is a huge fan of sweet meats, particularly modak, his mother, Goddess Parvati, wished that every year people would celebrate his birthday with these dumpling-like sweets.
However, it is not just modaks that are prepared on this day. There are loads of other sweets too that adorn the dessert platter served as part of bhog. These include a variety of laddoos and puran poli. For the unversed, puran poli is a Maharashtrian flatbread that is made with wheat flour and stuffed with chana dal. ‘Puran’ refers to the sweet mixture made with dal while ‘poli’ is another word for bread. The dish is not just popular in Maharashtra but many parts of South India too, where it is known as holige, obbattu, and bobbattlu.
Puran Poli
A significant part of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, puran poli is as important for the festival as modak. The sweet flatbread is easy to make, and often rolled up and served hot. Sweetened with jaggery, the dish is also made on other celebratory occasions like Holi and Diwali in the region. This Ganesh Chaturthi, try this recipe to make a delectable puran poli at home.
Ingredients:
• 1 cup chana dal
• 1 cup maida
• 1 tsp nutmeg powder
• 1 cup jaggery
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 tsp green cardamom powder
• ½ tsp fennel seeds
• Refined oil
• Salt
• Water
Method:
• Start by making the chana dal and jaggery mixture.
• Roast blanched chana dal in ghee and add some cardamom powder and fennel seeds to it.
• Then, add some nutmeg powder and ginger powder and cook it for a few minutes.
• Once it is combined well, mash it together and keep aside.
• Meanwhile, prepare the dough for the bread.
• For this, you’ll need some maida and refined oil.
• Knead the dough till it stiffens and add water, as required.
• Roll into small balls and make a hole in each.
• Stuff the centre with the prepared jaggery and dal mixture and roll it into a paratha.
• Toss on a tawa and serve hot.
