Poornalu, Traditional Indian Sweet : Learn how to prepare it

Poornalu is traditional Indian sweet, famous in Andhra Pradhesh and it is made during major festivals like Diwali, Dasara and Sankranti. Poornalu has got very similar stuffing like the Bobbatlu but Poornalu is dipped in the batter like Maida, rice or urad dal and they are deep fried like fritters.

Poornalu is also called as suyyam, seeyam, sukhiyan, sugeelu or sugunta in other parts of South India. This is essentially a sweet, stuffed version of the savoury snack punugulu, a street food stape I the numerous parts of Andhra Pradhesh state.

In one variant of Poornam, known as Senagapappu Bellam Poornam, mostly had in the East as well as West Godwari regions of Andhra Pradhesh, a people prefer having Poornam, with ghee as per the Sankalp.

Poornalu: Ingredients for Outer Layer

-Rice one cup

-Urad dal/Black gram dal, half cup

-salt about two pinches

-Grated Jaggery about ¼ tsp

-Maida nearing to 2 tea spoons (optional) add maida to the batter incase the batter falls apart while frying.

Ingredients for the sweet Poornalu filling

-Chana Dal (Bengal Gram) about 1.5 cups

-Jaggery about 1.5 cups

-Fresh Grated coconut about ½ cup

-Crushed Cardamom pods-3

A handful of chopped cashews and oil for deep frying

Preparation Procedure for outer layer

-Firstly you must wash as well as soak the rice and urad dal in water for about 6 to 8 hours or overnight.

-Drain the water and then grind the rice as well as urad dal in order to smoothen the paste by adding just enough amount of water. The consistency of the batter must be very similar to the dosa batter.

-Add salt and jaggery to the batter and set aside.

For the Sweet Purnam Filling

-Cook the chana dal with enough amount of water. The dal must be just cooked and still it should hold its shape. It is important not to over cook the dal. Drain all the water and make sure, there is absolutely no water in the dal) and let the dal cool down for few minutes. Do not discard the water, it can be used to make rasam.

-Now transfer the dal to a food processor. Add grated jaggery, coconut and cardamom powder. Pulse or grind the whole mixture, till it becomes smooth. Taste it, if you feel you require sweeter then add little more jaggery to it. The poornalu mixture is ready.

-In case the poornalu mixture is too soft, transfer the poornalu mixture to a pan and then cook on stove in low flame until the moisture evaporates. Finally, you must add cashew, allow the poornalu mixture to cool for about few minutes and then roll it into medium round balls.

One can also use the microwave method, place the purnam in a microwave bowl and cook about 5 to 7 minutes, till all the moisture evaporates allow it cook for few minutes and then rool into medium round balls.

Frying the poornalu

-Heat oil for deep frying, dip the poornalu balls in the prepared batter. Let coat evenly and drop them gently in the hot oil.

You must ensure, you deep fry until it gets golden brown. Repeat with the rest of the batter, serve warm.

If the outer layer is falling apart, you can add some amount of maida to the batter to make the batter little thick.