Happy Holi !

The Festival of colour is back and even if the day goes by, may the color of Holi fill your lives with colors of Happiness and Joy.

Spring is back and with it the end of a long and harsh winter

Celebrated with great fervour, this ancient Hindu festival of "Holi" essentially marks the arrival of Spring and signifies the victory of good over evil .

The popular legend behind the victory of good over evil is the story of the demon Asura King Hiryanyakashyap and his son Prahlad who is a devotee of Lord Vishnu .

The story goes that Hiranyakashyap emboldened by Lord Brahmas boon becomes invincible and expects everyone to worship him . Fed up with his sons devotion to Lord Vishnu, Hiranyakashyap asks his sister Holika to sit with Prahlad in the fire so that he may perish but its Holika who perishes inspite of her boon ,thus signifying victory of good over evil and every year a Holika bonfire is lit one day prior to the day of Holi to remind us of that.

Thus Holi festival derives its name from Holika and is celebrated as victory of good over evil. 

To celebrate this victory every year "Puran Poli" - a sweet Indian delicacy is made by stuffing the dough with a filling of Jaggery and Split Chick Pea lentils and offered as "Prasad" to the deity.

Eaten with Ghee / Milk and /or Katachi Amti this mouth watering sweet Indian dessert is a declicacy  made in different ways - with jaggery/ sugar and is either dry or with ghee and on banana leaf. I love the "Telpoli" as its called .

My mother's were out of the world !  Straight from the Tawa, the "Puran Polis " just melted in the mouth without extra ghee or milk.

PURANPOLI

iNGREDIENTS :

Please note that the quantity of Jaggery is double the quantity of the Channa daal/ lentils taken .

The standard measurement to take is 1: 2  whether it is Rawa and Milk for Halwa or Channa dal and Jaggery Or Rawa and Water for Upma 

I took the following measurements yesterday:

# Split chick Peas lentils ie Channa Daal - 1 Cup 

#Grated Jaggery - 2 Cups 

#Cardamom Powder - 1 tsp

# a pinch of saffron ( optional) 

# Wheat Flour - 2 Cups 
# Pure Ghee for smearing the Puran Polis 

METHOD :

1. Soak lentils ie Channa Dal for 1 to 1.5 hours or till soft 

2. Wash the Daal with water 4 to 5 times ie till the water is clear.

3. Pressure Cook the Daal for 20 minutes on slow after the first whistle.

4. Open the cooker and  dry the channa dal till extra water evaporates slightly .

5. Then add the grated Jaggery and mix well with the channa dal ie lentil and then continue to dry the water out about 10 to 15 minutes stirring all the while till it thickens or till the mixture becomes a smooth and soft filling . Keep stirring and do not overdry or burn.  Cool  .

6. If the mixture looks granular ,use a hand blender to smoothen it.

6. Add Cardamom powder and mix with the filling

7. Knead the flour into a soft and smooth dough .

8.. Divide the dough into fairly middle size balls and divide the filling according to the number of the dough balls .

8. Roll the dough balls out on a floured flat board in a circular motion and make a round of about 4 inches.

9. Take the ball of the stuffing made of Jaggery and lentil and put in the centre of the dough . Bring the dough from all sides to the centre and close it at the top with a pinch .

10 . Flatten the filled in ball and then roll again on the floured boad into a circular flat bread of about 6 inches or so. 

9. Heat the Tawa ie griddle and smear ghee on it .

10. If you have a banana leaf you can put it on the tawa and then put the rolled flat wheat bread on it but when no banana leaf is around I put the rolled  wheat bread directly on the tawa ie griddle and let it cook .

11. Around the Roti put a tsp of Ghee ie clarified butter so it does not burn.

12. Cook the roti for about a minute and when light brown spots appear, turn it over and again spread the ghee on top and the sides of the roti and let it cook till the light brown spots appear

13. Once done remove from heat and serve hot with Ghee or crush them in milk  for a Melt in the Mouth Experience. 

Happy Eating ! 

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