Rava Puran Poli (Sojji Appam) - Diwali Sweets Recipes

I had never heard of Sojji Appam until amma made it and my uncle sent me pics, mentioning that this is the popular sojji from the famous phrase bajji sojji. It's very similar to puran poli except that you use rava or semolina in the puran filling instead of chana dal. So the name Rava Puran Poli seemed apt. Now, I am such a huge fan of Puran Poli (we call it obbattu) that I insisted it be a served as part of my wedding meal. So instead of the regular poli, we served obbattu with paal payasam. It was quite a hit and people still talk about it after 5 years!

If with the brinjal vindaloo amma gave me the recipe and waited for it to happen, the same mistake wasn't repeated with the rava puran poli. She just made it and got my uncle to click pics and send them across. I saved it up to share during diwali because that's where everyone is looking for quick and easy sweets recipes. Well, this is not necessarily a quick one but it's definitely tasty. Or so I'm told. I still haven't tasted this so, if you made it, do let me know. I am told it was a hit in my Kottayam household the day it got made for Edible Garden :)

{Check here if you are looking for more recipes for diwali} 

RAVA PURAN POLI (SOOJI APPAM)

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Makes ~ 20
Recipe source: Amma

INGREDIENTS:
2.5 cups of plain flour or maida
1 cup of semolina or rava
3/4 cup of crushed jaggery (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup of grated coconut
1 pinch of saffron powder (or saffron strands - see notes)
2 tbsp of finely chopped roasted cashewnuts (optional)
1 pinch of salt
2 tsp of butter
2 tbsp of ghee

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Sift the flour to remove any lumps. Add salt and saffron powder and mix well. Add enough water to make into a soft dough like for pooris. Set aside.

2. Melt the jaggery with 1/4 cup water. Pass through a sieve to remove any impurities and set aside.

3. Add the rava to a dry frying pan and roast until it starts to turn a darker shade of brown/red. To this, add the melted jaggery, coconut, and cashew nuts (if using). Mix well and keep stirring on low heat until the mixture starts to leave the pan and forms into a ball.

4. Knead the dough again lightly and form into lime-sized balls. Form the rava mixture into similar sized balls too.

5. Roll out the dough into circles and place the rava balls inside. Bring the ends together and form into one larger ball as shown below. Make sure the ends are brought together properly so that the filling doesn't come out when rolling.

6. Roll these filled dough balls gently into a circle. Heat a griddle or pan and brush with ghee generously.

7. Add the rolled puran poli on the heated griddle and cook both sides until they are flecked with golden brown patches.

These puris taste great warm or at room temperature and keep well for 2 days. If you plan to store them longer, refrigerate after cooling them completely immediately after cooking. They may keep a day or two longer that way but since there's coconut involved, plan to finish them off quicker.

Note: if you want to use saffron strands instead of saffron powder, dissolve the strands in 1 tbsp warm water and set aside for 10 mins before adding to the flour and kneading the dough.

I hope you make these rava puran polis for Diwali this year. I am not sure if I have time to share a lot of Diwali sweets and snacks this year since we just moved into our place and there's a lot of stuff to get done (like buying a bed!).

Enjoy! :)

For Rava Puran Poli recipe in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Urdu, etc, please use the translate bar on the right sidebar of the site.