Puran Poli

First off, Thanks to everyone who helped me identify the mystery items here at Soul Cocina last week.
Puran Poli is a sweet snack made in Maharashtra (and other parts of India). It is often made durring holy celebrations. Puran Poli is like a chapati stuffed with a sweet filling. While filming Soul Dukra in the village of Mutt last year during Holi, I tasted some of the best puran poli ever. The ghee was homemade and super fresh and something about the simplicity of the dough made for a perfect texture, light yet rich, hot and scrumptous. When I returned to Goa after the trip to the Maharastran village, I asked Sachen to teach me the recipe at the ACE lab. I like how his family recipe has a little tumeric in the dough. I was delighted to discover that the recipe for puran poli is like pound cake, easy to remember with equal quantities of main ingredients.










1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup jaggery
1 cup chana dal
1/4 cup ghee
1/2 cup water
pinch of tumeric
2 T ground cardamom


Make a dough with the flour, tumeric, ghee and water. Knead for 10 minutes by hand until smooth. Cover with plastic and set aside in a warm spot. Allow dough to rest while preparing the filling.

For the filling, boil the chana dal. Drain dal when it is cooked before it becomes mushy and broken. Drain dal of all water and cook in a sauce pan over low heat with cardamom and jaggery. Stirring constantly, cook until jaggery is dissolved into dal and a dry puree is formed. Allow to cool.
Cut the dough into small balls and fill each ball with a small ball of filling. Flatten out and on a lightly floured work surface, roll out the balls to thin flat discs. Cook the puran polis on both sides over medium heat on a dry griddle or cast iron pan.
Like Puran Poli, today's tunes all have the initials PP. Either the song or artist

Tune: Zacpa by The Plastic People of the Universe from the Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Band

Tune: Poet and Peasant Overture by Eddie Peabody originally recorded on an EDISON diamond disc exactly 50 years before I was born on March 4th 1925.

Tune: Pretty Polly by Dock Boggs is another banjo tune. This song was recorded in 1927. From the western part of Virginia, Boggs was a coal miner for most of his life.


In 1939 the Coon Creek Girls sang this song for Elenor and Franklin Roosevelt at the White House. They opened the show with "How Many Biscuits can you Eat?" I have never heard this song, but it sounds like it could be a Soul Cocina theme song.
Tune: Pretty Polly by The Coon Creek Girls recorded in 1938.

Tune: Pastime Paradise by Stevie Wonder

Tune: Pastime Paradise by Ray Barreto
I can't believe Stevie and Ray Barreto stole this song from Coolio

Tune: Paper Planes Remix by M.I.A. ft Bun B (that's Texas baby!) & Rich Boy

Tune: Paper Guacharaca is another remix of Paper Planes done by Sonido Martines

Tune: Pal Pal... Har Pal sung by Sonu Nigam & Shreya Ghoshal from the film Lage Raho Munna Bhai
Can't resist singing along? here are the lyrics.

Tune: Puto Prata megamix
here is a Kuduro mix I found at the music blog. With Kuduro blowing up everywhere on the net it is hard to filter through the quality and trash out there. Like baile funk from Brasil, Kuduro is raw, rough, and often nasty.

There are lots of Kuduro videos on youtube. This one features a heavy duty kuduro dancer who only has one leg.

Tune: Tetigo is a xylaphone duet by a musicians of the Petalangan People community. known for Promessa de Pescador by Papete from Agua de Coco

Tune: Pistol Packin' Papa by Jimmie Rodgers

Tune: Professor Pyarelal from Bombay The Hard Way: Guns, Cars, and Sitars. On this tune, Dan "the Automator" Nakamura and DJ Shadow mess with a tune by the Bollywood musical team of Kalyanji and Anandji to create a nice groove.

Tune: Propiedad Privada by Lucha Reyes brings Soul Cocina readers/listeners back to Peru for those of us who just can't get enough.


find more puran poli at:
Madhu's vantalu
Mahanandi
The Spice Cafe
and even a vegan version at Vegan Fare