Puranpoli and a fight against plagiarism, come join us..

She would stand and roll these to perfection, year after year. She stood alone and I mean, as a person as well as, when making puranpoli. 

Aaji, my dear Aaji. Her small, gentle hands  had surprising strength, she would knead the puranpoli dough, no food processor. It was hard work, making dough for 50-60 puranpolis. 

Every Ganpati, we would go to Aaji's. The night before and help my Mama (maternal uncle) put up the decoration for the next day.

Then late into the night, with a zero watt bulb glowing softly, we would lie down on mattresses on the floor and listen to old film songs, Hindi and sometimes Marathi. we would hum along with Lata Mangeshkar or Kishore Kumar, sometimes Suman Kalyanpur would sing in her melodious voice  and sometimes it was Pt. Bhimsen Joshi who mesmerized us with his classical singing!

The next day, we would wake up very early, get ready and wait at the door, for the priest, "Aaji, aga guruji ale" we would yell, announcing his arrival and rush into the kitchen to see what Aaji was doing and  eat sabudana khichadi, the objective was, keep us out of the way, so Mama and the priest could go ahead with the puja! Once the  puja was underway, Aaji assisted by her daughters and daughter in law would start lunch preparation. The menu was mostly fixed, Varan-bhat, batata bhaji, katachi amti, koshimbir, chutney, ukdiche modak and the star, puranpoli! 

We would watch her  make the dough, we called it chewing gum dough, it was that elastic. We would  wash our hands (naivedyachi ahe puranpoli, mulinno, hath dhuvun ghya, Aaji would warn us, but never restricted us) and touch the dough, pulling it and stretching it and giggling.

We could hardly wait for  lunch. 

Sometimes we  would grumble... the priest would eat before we did and we would watch with fascinated horror at how  they devoured puranpolis and worried if there were any left for us! 

Aaji would just smile gently and reassure us, there were plenty, don't worry.

Perhaps, her perfect puranpolis were the reason why none of her (3) daughters or daughter-in-law ever tried making puranpolis, ever. 

The only person who comes close to her level of expertise or perfection is my Mother in Law. 

When my in laws visited us, I took lessons from her. It is not easy to learn in two lessons, but she is a good teacher and I was a very willing student.

Over the last 3 years I have made puranpolis sparingly, just on M's birthday or  Diwali. It is time consuming.

I had some old pictures I had taken when my in laws were visiting and never got to posting about these.

A week or two ago, I made puranpoli, no reason, I just felt like it.And for the first time, my puranpolis were, great! 

I was so excited!  for one moment, as I stood in my kitchen, I felt like my late Aaji was standing behind me, smiling, proud of me.

I had some old pictures, step wise, detailing the process. 

Here is what you need to make the puranpolis:

For the outer cover:
2 Cups Atta / wheat flour
1/4 cup oil ( yes you need it!)
Water to bind the dough
Pinch of salt

For the puran (filling):

2/3 cup Chana daal
2/3 Cup Jaggery ( I use soft jaggery)
4 Cardamoms, powdered
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg powder (Jaiphal powder)

Prepare the Puran (filling). This can be made ahead of time.
Wash the  Chana Daal in changes of water. Till the water runs clear.

Traditionally, the daal is cooked n stove top with plenty of water (which is later used in making 'katachi amti') But I use my pressure cooker to save time and energy.
Place the chana daal  (with double amount of water)and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.
After the pressure subsides, transfer the daal to a non-stick pan, add the jaggery and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally.
While the filling is still semi solid, use an immersion blender and blend the puran to a smooth pasty consistency.
Alternately or traditionally, the puran is cooked and run thru a food mill to get a smooth, lumpfree filling. If you have a food mill (also called puran yantra), you can use it later, to mill the filling.

You need to cook the filling till it is dry, have patience, it takes a while. The filling has to come together into a stiff ball. Place a spoon ( with a long handle)  directly into the puran, if the spoon stands straight, as you inserted it, the puran is ready. if the spoon slides sideways, keep cooking and drying it out.
Cool and add the powdered cardamom and nutmeg powder, mix and keep aside.

In a large mixing bowl, place the flour and make sprinkle the salt and stir to incorporate it in, make a well in the center. slowly add half the oil and mix, add water very carefully and mix into a smooth and soft dough.
You need to be careful with the liquids and add them carefully and gradually to make a smooth and pliable dough. Once done, cover and let it rest for a while. After about 10 minutes, sprinkle some water and a tsp of oil over the dough and knead it in. Repeat after another 10-15 mins and cover and let the dough rest. If you pull out a bit of the dough, it should be soft and elastic.
Once you are ready to make the puranpolis, Keep everything handy, the dough, the filling and heat the skillet on medium high.
Traditionally, rice flour is used for dusting. You can use regular wheat flour too.

Pinch off a small ball of dough and  flatten it in your palm, make a well and stuff a good portion of the filling in it. Look at the picture above (R2, C1), it has to be a generous amount of filling, you don't want doughy puranpolis, they have to be sweet!

Slowly pull the edges over and seal to form a ball. Pinch off the excess dough and pat it into a... patty .

Dust with flour (rice flour or atta) and roll out. Be gentle, use pressure evenly but do not press hard on the patty.
The rice flour will help the patty slide about in a way that makes it easy to roll it out.

Roll the poli thin and gently lift and lay on the hot skillet. Let it cook and brown , keep an eye but do not flip, this will cause it to break in the middle and all the filling will spill out.

Turn and cook on the other side, fold in half and remove from the skillet and place it on a tissue.
Repeat with the rest of the filling and dough.

When serving, smear a generous amount of toop / ghee. Do NOT skip the toop/ghee part, it helps with digesting the puran/ filling of chana daal. ( No ghee= tooting, mind it! ;) )

Puranpoli can also be served with ghee smeared inside ( mandatory) and some milk with a bit of kesar/ saffron infused to give it an extra oomph! for dipping the poli in.

*NOTES
- Some people make these with 100% All Purpose Flour
- You can mix 50% APF and 50% Atta, if you wish. I always prefer  100 wheat flour.
-Do not skimp on the oil. You will make these once in  while, go all the way :)
- These store well and freeze well.
-If you wish to freeze  the puranpolis, layer the polis ( I cook them and then freeze) between sheets of waxed paper and store in a freezer safe ziplock or container.
- Do NOT omit the ghee.
























Now picture this, I slaved in my kitchen, hours at a time to make a 'special something' for my family. I rush to take pictures in failing light and a hungry family waiting.
I fuss with angles, and click my tongue in exasperation. Settle for less than fab pictures and  run to the table to sit down for my meal.
Later, on a full tummy and resembling and feeling like a python after a full meal, I waddle off to clean up and then after all the work is done, my son tucked up for the night, I sit down to write a post.
It takes time, energy and effort to put it all down on the  blog. It is love and labor.
It cuts like a knife when someone copies the recipe and the pictures and passes them off as their 'own recipe'. It happens all the time. It's sad, heartbreaking even.
It happened recently to Anjali.
It happened to me too, on a Face book page,' chavdaar ani chatakdaar' where this was picture stolen.
Complaints, arguments, frustration over how brazen some people are to thieve, like it comes naturally to them.
Raise your hands if you are against such people.

Thank you.

Lets all come together to try and stop this outright thievery. Preeti is doing just that and invites us all to join in. She also has a giveaway, the 'assal Marathi' cook book 'Ruchira', a book that many mothers and daughters have relied on.

I am participating and I hope you will too. Spread the word for the fight against plagiarism.

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