POORNAM BOORELU – FESTIVAL RECIPE

Poornam Boorelu is one of the traditional sweet dishes prepared in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Poornam Boorelu is a tasty sweet recipe enjoyed by all during festivals.

Poornam Boorelu is prepared with rice and urad dal flour as outer covering and for filling it is prepared with channa dal, jaggery and coconut. Poornam Boorelu is prepared during festivals and it is also prepared as Naivedyam to God.

Let’s go thru the process of preparing Poornam Boorelu:

Ingredients:

For the outer covering:

Rice                                        2 cups

Urad dal                                1 cup

Sugar                                     2 tsp

Or

Jaggery                                  2 tsp

Salt                                         ½ tsp

For the filling:

Bengal dal/channa dal        1 cup

Jaggery (grated)                  1 cup

Coconut grated                     ½ cup

Cardamom powder              1 tsp

Oil for deep frying

Water                                    3 cups

Procedure for preparing Poornam Boorelu:

For the outer covering:

1. Wash and soak urad dal and rice in water for 5-6 hours.
2. Drain water and grind the dal and rice to a smooth thick paste, use very little water to grind as the batter should neither be too thick or too thin as it has to coat the stuffing balls.
3. Add to the batter 2 tsp of jaggery or 2 tsp of sugar and ½ tsp of salt to enhance the sweetness of the batter.

For the filling:

1. In a pressure cooker, cook channa dal with 3 cups of water till the 1^st whistle and lower the flame and cook for 10 minutes. Put off the flame and allow it to cool.
2. Open the pressure cooker lid, by now the dal is cooked. Drain the excess water and keep the water aside, use it for cooking any curry.
3. Mash the cooked channa dal, add grated jaggery and stir well and cook on low flame for 8 – 10 minutes by stirring the mixture.
4. Add grated coconut and cardamom powder and mix well and cook for 1- 2 minutes. Put off the flame you will get a thick soft paste. You will know it’s done when the dal starts to leave the sides.
5. Make small balls out of the mixture.
6. Dip each ball in the rice – dal thick batter. Ensure it’s coated on all sides.
7. Heat the oil in a pan for deep frying, once the oil is hot, lower the heat.
8. Gently drop the coated balls into the hot oil.
9. Turn and cook on all sides. Once it is done, drain them on to a kitchen towel to remove excess oil.
10. Poornam Boorelu is ready.
11. Use the leftover batter to make dosas.

Notes:

• Adding jaggery or sugar in the ground batter enhances the sweet taste of Poornam Boorelu.
• Adding grated coconut gives some crunch and a nice taste to Poornam Boorelu.
• Drain the water completely from cooked channa dal and use the drained water for cooking any curry.
• The rice-dal batter should be neither too thick nor too watery. Ensure the balls are well coated with the batter.
• Poornam Boorelu has a very less shelf life as Bengal dal (channa dal) and grated coconut are used for filing. Poornam Boorelu stays good for 2days.