Jeera Poli

This is a traditional TN dessert, usually prepared on Boghi, the day before Pongal or Shankaranti. Its is a very simple dessert to make and takes very little of your time. Easy to make, tasty to eat and is a winner all the way. So, try this out during this festival season and relish!

This is a variation to the usual Puran Poli that is made in many parts of India. You need to make poori's and dip them in sugar syrup and set aside. Thats it! Your dessert is done...:-)

Ingredients:

For the poori dough

- 1 cup maida or all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup fine rava or sooji
- pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp oil
- water as required

For the Sugar syrup or Jeera

- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- flavouring of your choice...I added cardomom, nutmeg and saffron
- a bit of food colour either orange or yellow (optional)

Oil for deep frying

Prep time: 5 mins      Dough standing time: 2 hours         Cook time: 30 mins

Preparation:

- Knead together all the ingredients given under "poori dough" above. Make a firm yet soft dough. More like a chapathi dough consistency.
- Let the dough sit for 2 hours.
- Before making the pooris make the sugar syrup. Add the sugar and water in a deep pan and heat them together. Once the sugar dissolves, continue boiling the syrup for 10 mins or so. Switch off heat once the syrup reaches a one string consistency.

Sugar Syrup boiling

 - Add all the flavouring and food colouring to the syrup and let it cool.

Sugar syrup with the food colouring and flavouring

- After 2 hours, make  big gooseberry sized balls of the dough and roll them flat into small poori sized rounds.

Ready to roll into pooris

 - Meanwhile, heat the oil on medium.
- Once all pooris have been rolled, start frying them one by one.

All pooris rolled out and ready for frying

- As soon as you fry them, drain them on a paper towel for a few seconds and then dip them in the sugar syrup.

Dipping them in the syrup

- Turn the pooris over in the sugar syrup. Let both sides coat. With a tong, remove the poori from the syrup and place in a wide plate or pan.

Remove them over to another plate

- Likewise, repeat this process for all pooris. Place all the pooris around the plate or pan. Eat them fresh or after they soak in the syrup coating for a good 8 hours. Top with pistas or any nuts of your choice.

Syrup coated pooris....let them soak for 6 to 8 hours for best taste

- Tastes best after it has been allowed to soak for 8 hours.

After soaking overnight....ready to be eaten!

 Foot note:

- Roll out all pooris and fry them one after the other and dip them and set aside. The pooris will be soft but the rava will give little stiffness as it soaks in the syrup. Rava helps them to stay together and not tear apart.
- Do not fry all pooris in a batch and then start dipping them one after the other.
- The syrup should not be too hot. It needs to be warm while you dip the pooris.
- Sometimes, after soaking, you might find the sugar has crystalised on the pooris. This is because you have made the syrup too thick by over boiling.
- In this case, heat the pooris in microwave for a few seconds before serving.