Puran Poli — Sweet Lentil Stuffed Flatbread (पुरण पोळी)

Maharashtra — particularly associated with Holi and Ugadi festivals; also prepared in Karnataka (holige) and Andhra (bobbattu)

Puran poli is Maharashtra's most important festive flatbread — a soft wheat disc encasing puran (a sweetened cooked chana dal paste cooked with jaggery, cardamom, and nutmeg). The filling (puran) is made by cooking chana dal to complete softness, draining, then mashing smooth, returning to the pan with jaggery and cooking until a thick, fudge-like paste forms that holds shape when rolled into a ball. The dough is a soft, oiled wheat dough. The challenge is in rolling: the sweet filling is dense and tends to tear the dough if rolled too aggressively. The poli is cooked on a tawa with ghee until golden on both sides.

Served warm with ghee and warm milk. At festival meals, the first sweet course before the savoury dishes begin.