Gujarati Puran Puri (Indian Sweet Flatbread)

Puran puris are my childhood favorite Indian dish. They are basically Indian flatbreads (roti), but slighter thicker. Want to know why? They are deliciously stuffed with some jaggery, making them sweet. SO yummy. You can enjoy them with any meal or alone as a dessert (the recipe my mom has taught me doesn’t have as much sugar as I would consider to be a dessert but you can always add more or less depending on your taste). I really love these delicious breads – highly recommend you try making them one day! Even kids love them because they have a nice sweet taste. My family simply replaces bread at a meal with puran puris if we want a sweet touch to our meal. Definitely worth giving this recipe a try – it may seem hard at first glance, but I promise you it’s not as bad as you think; it’s just a longer recipe than a typical bread recipe. Nevertheless, your first time is always a trial for any recipe and honestly, the only thing you can do wrong horribly is roll the puran puri into a different shape other than a circle, which is really not bad. Eat a square bread for dinner that night instead ! Yumm.

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The Recipe

Yields 12 – 15 servings

Serving Size: ~ 5″ puran puri

2 cup channa dal (dried split chickpeas)

1 cup raw powdered jaggery or shredded jaggery

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp cardamom powder

1/8 tsp saffron

1 tsp melted butter or oil (optional)

4 cups whole wheat or all-purpose flour 

1/4 cup canola oil

1 cup water

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Directions

1. Boil your channa dal and be sure to soak them overnight. Drain and set aside.

2. If you are using melted butter, heat it on top of the stovetop in a pan and add the dal and jaggery. If not, you can use a non-stick pan and heat the dal and jaggery. The mixture will seem loose at first, but it will thicken as you cook the two together. Keep heating till it becomes dry and then add the spices (cinnamon, cardamom, saffron, and salt if you wish). 

3. Stir everything together and set aside to cool for several minutes.

4. Once cooled, use your hands or a spoon to roll the mixture into golf-ball sized balls. Set all of your 12 – 15 balls aside on a plate.

5. Now, mix together the flour, oil, and water to make a dough. Add the oil and water slowly to bind together the flour gradually. 

6. Once you have created a dough, use your hands or a spoon again to roll the flour into balls that are bigger than golf-balls but smaller than tennis balls.

7. This is the hard part – push on the dough balls slightly to make them semi-flat just like you would if you were making cookies. Place the jaggery mixture in the center and enwrap it with the remaining surrounding dough. 

8. Now, you should have a bigger-sized ball. Using a roller and roll out the puran puri ball into a circle and heat on a non-stick pan till they are completely toasted – you can follow the directions I posted on the recipe for making rotis, which are basically puran puris minus the sweetness (click here).

9. You’re house will smell delicious after you start making these 🙂 Enjoy them warm with anything dish or alone with some yogurt or butter – just replace your normal bread with these delicious sweet flatbreads!