Puran Poli
As a rule, I prefer eating to cooking. Anyday. But some stuff in the fridge could not be ignored any longer, and my atta (flour) needs to be finished quickly before it goes bad. So some pumpkin parathas are to be attempted this evening. The dough needs to be *really* soft and pliable. As I kneaded it, I realised that making parathas might not be such a bad idea when stuck on a research paper you’re trying to write quickly for a deadline. All day I’ve tried to write to articulate an argument that is not blindingly obvious and lame; kneading some dough really allows you to work out your irritation without physical damage to self, computer or family members. I think I might even have thought of some decent sentences.
But this kneading also reminded me of the last time such a dough was made, and a dish that is simply out of this world, was prepared in my kitchen: Puran Polis. These are polis (Marathi for layered roti/bread, for non-Ghatis reading this) stuffed with puran (lit. stuffing, but in this case made of cooked chana dal/Bengal gram, jaggery, cardamom and nutmeg) and rolled out, roasted and then eaten with ghee and, if you like it, milk. The idea is to mash it all up and slurp and lick it off your fingers. If some dough is leftover, you can always stuff it with mashed potatoes and have aloo parathas the next day. My mum was here then and made them for Ganesh Chaturthi; I remembered to take some pictures for my foodie friends at Another Subcontinent:
The dough, followed by the puran stuffing (pressure cooked and mixed with the melted jaggery)
Then the delicate task of stuffing the elastic dough with the puran and rolling it out:
The final product folded in half, before ghee is poured over and massive
gorging causes it to instantly disappear.
For those who know about him, this is reportedly Sachin Tendulkar’s favourite dish. Not that this means anything, of course, but still.
Anyway, back to more pedestrian pumpkin parathas and papers….