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Puran Poli is a traditional Indian sweet from Maharashtrian cuisine made during festivals like Ganesh Chaturti, Holi, Gudi padwa, and other festive occasions and celebrations. Maharashtrian Puran Poli is made with flour, chana dal (Bengal gram) and jaggery. With little bit of practice you can make it easily at home. It can be served as breakfast, snack or appetizer. Learn how to make it with step by step photos and a video.

Puran Poli is a staple in Maharashtrian cuisine but is also popular in neighboring states by various names like Bobbatlu, Holige, and Obbattu across India. Other festive recipes that you might like are Patoli, Rava Ladoo, Peanut Ladoo, and Moong Dal Ladoo.

Watch the recipe video

What is Puran Poli?

Puran Poli is Indian flatbread stuffed with a sweet filling from Maharashtra. Literally, "Puran" means "sweet stuffing" and "Poli" means "flatbread in Marathi (language of Maharashtra state of India)".

Image of 4 puran poli on a plate. It is served with a bowl of ghee.

Table of Contents

This Maharashtrian sweet flatbread is made with flour stuffed with a sweet lentil filling made with chana dal (Bengal gram), and jaggery, cooked together, and flavored with cardamom powder and nutmeg. It is usually served as a part of meal.

Making Puran Poli is easy but it requires a little bit of practice and time. It needs atleast 2 hours or more (depends on your skill and quantity you are making) to make it from start to finish.

Ingredients & Substitutions

Flour: This Puran Poli recipe is made with all-purpose flour. You can use a combination of all-purpose flour and wheat flour or you can make it with wheat flour only for healthier option.
Chana dal: Also known as Bengal gram or split chickpea lentils. It is easily available in Asian or Indian grocery stores.
Jaggery: It is unrefined sugar. It makes the stuffing sweet. I used light colored jaggery to make sweet puran filling. You can purchase jaggery from nearby Indian Grocery stores or online.
Flavoring - Cardamom powder, salt, and nutmeg. Use nutmeg in small quantity and powder it in mortar and pestle. It gives nice aroma and flavor to the stuffing. It is traditionally added mostly by Maharashtrian households in the stuffing. But if you do not have it, skip it and add cardamom powder only.
Turmeric Powder - It gives a beautiful yellow color to the poli. It is completely optional.

For the detailed list of ingredients & their measurements, please check out the recipe card below.

How to make Maharashtrian Puran Poli (Step by step instructions with photos)

Step 1: Making the Poli Dough

In a mixing bowl, add all-purpose flour, turmeric powder & salt. Add little water at a time & knead soft dough.

collage image of 2 steps showing making the puran poli dough.

Quick tip: If the dough it soft and kneaded well, the puran poli will be soft. Also, the stuffing will not come out while rolling the puran poli.

Next, add oil, a little at a time & knead. Once the oil is completely absorbed by the dough, add some more oil & knead. In this way, knead until the quantity of oil mentioned in the recipe card is completely used. Knead it well for 8-10 minutes so that the dough doesn't sticks to your hands. Cover it with a damp clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rest for 2 hours.

collage image of 2 steps showing addition of oil and kneading maharashtrian puran poli dough.

Step 2: Cooking Chana Dal

Rinse & soak chana dal in water for 6 hours or overnight. Drain off the water. Transfer the chana dal in a pressure cooker. Add water, the level of water should be equal to the level of the chana dal. Do not add more or less water. Close the lid and pressure cook it for 3 whistles on medium heat.

Quick Tip: You can cook the chana dal on stovetop in a pan or Instant pot too. The quantity of water to cook dal and cooking time will differ.

You can soak the chana dal only for an hour and cook it. In this case, add more water like for 1 cup of chana dal you will need 3 cups of water. Cook for 6-7 whistles or until it is cooked.

collage image of 2 steps showing soaked chana dal and adding it to a pressure cooker.

Allow the pressure release naturally. Check the dal. It should be firm in shape but cooked. When you press the dal between your thumb & the index finger it get mashed easily.

collage image of 2 steps showing how to check cooked chana dal by pressing it between thumb and index finger.

Quick Tip: When the dal is overcooked the puran (stuffing) will be soggy or mushy. Then you will have to cook it on stovetop to dry it out.

Place a strainer or colander over a bowl. Strain the dal to remove excess water from it. Keep the dal on the strainer or colander until all the liquid is drained in the bowl.

Quick Tip: The strained liquid is nutritious and used to make Amti (Maharashtrian curry) or you can add it to soup or use it as vegetable stock.

collage image of 2 steps showing drained chana dal in a colander placed on a glass bowl.

Step 3: Making Puran (sweet stuffing)

Heat 1 teaspoon of ghee in a heavy bottom pan over medium heat. Add cooked chana dal, jaggery and a pinch of salt. Combine and cook.
Once combined, cook the mixture for 15 minutes stirring at regular intervals. The mixture will thicken and holds shape. Switch off the heat.

collage image of 2 steps showing cooking chana dal and jaggery for puran poli stuffing.

Add nutmeg powder & cardamom powder. Combine & remove from the heat. Let it cool down completely.
Grind the mixture using a mixer jar in small batches and remove it to a plate. I like to pass the ground mixture through a strainer for smooth consistency. This is optional.
Another way is to use a potato masher and mash the mixture when it is lukewarm.

collage image of 2 steps showing how to grind the puran mixer in a grinder jar.

Step 4: Making the puran poli

Knead the poli dough (flatbread dough) once again. Now take out a lemon size ball from it & flatten it with your fingers.

collage image of 2 steps showing streaching the poli dough with fingers.

Take out a small lemon size ball of Puran (sweet stuffing). Place it in the center of poli & close the ends together.

collage image of 2 steps showing stuffing the puran in the poli.

Dust the puran poli balls lightly with dry flour.

collage image of 2 steps showing rolling the puran poli balls in dry flour.

Now flatten the ball with your fingers. It will spread the stuffing evenly inside the puran poli and rolling it will be easier.

collage image of 2 steps showing flattening the puran poli balls with hands.

Roll the Puran poli as thin as possible. This comes with a little bit of practice. You may not get it right on your first try but with little practice and patience you can make it. You can check out the video.

Quick Tip: You can sprinkle little dry flour or add oil while rolling the puran poli.

collage image of 2 steps showing rolling the puran poli.

Heat a tawa over medium heat. Place the puran poli on a heated tawa (iron griddle). First fry it for 30 seconds or until bubbles start to appear. Then flip. Puran poli will start to puff up as soon as you flip it. Apply ghee/oil & fry on this side until some brown spots appear.

collage image of 2 steps showing cooking the puran poli.

Flip again, apply ghee & fry on the other side too. Puran poli is ready. Serve hot with a spoonful of ghee & enjoy!

collage image of 2 steps showing puffing up of puran poli.

Tips to make Soft Puran Poli

Soak chana dal in water for at least 6 hours. It reduces the cooking time of dal.
If the dal is overcooked, it will be mushy & you will not be able to make perfect Puran (sweet stuffing).
Do not undercook the dal as it may cause digestion problems. If the dal is undercooked then cook for one more whistle. Also, check the level of water and if the base of pressure cooker is dry, add more water and cook.
While grinding the dal and jaggery mixture in the mixer/grinder jar, grind them in small batches. Add little mixture at a time and grind. Do not add water while grinding.
Knead the poli dough soft & let it rest for a minimum of 2 hours.
Do not cut down the quantity of oil for kneading the dough. It is the quantity of oil that makes puran poli soft. I tried to cut off oil and it resulted in dry or hard puran poli.
The ratio of chana dal to jaggery is 1:1. If you are using 1 cup of uncooked chana dal then you have to use 1 cup of jaggery.

Storage suggestions

Store the leftover puran poli within 2 hours of cooking. Let it come to room temperature.
You can store it at room temperature for 2 days.
Transfer them to an airtight container and refrigerate. Stays good for a week.
Puran (sweet lentil stuffing) can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 15 days.
Poli (flatbread) dough can also be stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
Always check for the signs of spoilage like black spots, foul smell or bad taste. If there are any discard them immediately.

Serving suggestions

Serve Puran Poli hot with a spoonful of ghee as dessert with warm milk. I love to serve it that way.
Traditionally it is served with Kachhi amti.
Sometimes during festive seasons or celebrations in Maharashtra, they are a part of big meal and served with rice, varan (dal), amti, dry sabji, moong curry, pakora, chuney, salad, papads, and pickle.
You can also serve it with Amti. Amti is a curry made with the water drained from cooked chana dal.

More Maharashtrian recipes you might like

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