Puran poli – Healthy??? Or Unhealthy???
Gudi Padwa is around the corner, this festive season is incomplete without puran poli right. Puran poli is a classic Maharashtrian delicacy. It is a pan-griddled sweet bread stuffed with split yellow gram(channa dal) or red gram (toovar/arhar dal).
It has various regional names like paruppu poli in Tamil, Holige or obbattu in Kannada, ubbati in Konkani. The taste also varies from region to region. It is sweet and is circular like a parantha. It is a festive dessert. The stuffing is called puran and the parantha-like bread is called as poli.
But..hold on if you think puran poli is bad think again every food has its merit and demerits, the key is to maintain moderation.
Puran poli is supposed to be a high cal food, right… it is upto you to make it healthy, use whole wheat flour instead of maida, use ghee sparingly.
Lets look at its merit
Puran poli made with whole wheat flour is rich in complex carbs, fibre, gives B complex vitamins, certain minerals. Dals as we all know gives give good amount of protein, what you all will be surprised to know is that this combination of cereal i.e wheat flour and protein from dals will provide you with good quality protein, which can be compared to egg which is considered as high biological value with almost 100% bioavailability i.e of excellent quality.This combination provides all the required amino acids which are building blocks of protein.
Futher it has lot of jaggery which contains iron, cacium, potassium, phosphorus, it is releases energy slowly, as it is digested slower than sugar. Further Jaggery also aids in digestion, as jaggery breaks and becomes alkaline in the digestive system.
Addition of Green cardamom powder , saffron, nutmeg powder, mace (javantri) powder which have essential volatile oils,boosts digestion and are antispasmodic, carminative, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial.
Go ahead and enjoy this festive delicacy…but keep it as festive delicacy and do not gorge on it, it is to be enjoyed only during festival season.
ENJOY GUDI PADWA WITH PURAN POLI