Andhra Special Poornam boorelu

Poornam boorelu or poornalu are a popular delicacy from Andhra cuisine which is commonly prepared during festivals, wedding and other special occasions. These are called as sukhiyan in malayalam , suyam, suzhiyan or sugunta in other parts of the neighboring states. These are prepared in almost every Telugu speaking home in occassions.

I used old jaggery which is available in ayurvedic stores in India, so it looks very dark. It is believed that old jaggery contains lower amounts of chemical residue that is used during processing.

Ingredients for poornam

•     1 cup channa dal or senagapappu
•     1¾ to 2 cups water
•     1½ cup jaggery grated or palm jaggery or sugar
•     2 tbsps coconut fresh (optional)
•     ¼ tsp green cardamom powder

Ingredients for outer covering

•     ¾ cup urad dal or minapappu

•     1¼ cup raw rice

•     1 pinch salt

•     Oil for deep frying as needed

Preparation

• Wash and Soak seperately urad dal and rice in water for 4 to 5 hours.

Preparing poornam for boorelu

• Optional step - Skip this if your jaggery is clean & free from debris. To a large bowl, add grated jaggery and 45 ml of water (about 3 tbsps). Melt jaggery by placing this bowl on a low flame or microwave for 1.5 minutes. keep this aside.

• Cook channa dal with water until just cooked. Do not overcook and make mushy. The dal must still hold shape and when mashed it must turn soft. Drain off the dal in a colander. You can cook in a pressure cooker but it may mush up the dal so I prefer to cook in the pot.

• Mash or blend the dal to smooth or coarse mixture in a blender. I just mashed it. Put back the dal to the same pot.

• If using sugar, add it to the mashed dal. If using jaggery , filter the prepared syrup to the mashed dal. Discard the debris. Mix them well. Add fresh coconut if using and cardamom powder.

• Cook till the water evaporates completely and the dal looks dry and comes together like a mass.

• When it cools down, make 14 to 16 equal sized balls.

Make batter for poornam boorelu

• Drain the rice in a colander. There must be no dripping water.

• Add urad dal, little salt and little water to a blender. Blend till frothy or smooth. 

• Adding too much water will make the batter runny, so use as needed only.

• Next add rice to the batter and repeat blending. Keep the batter slightly coarse , this helps the outer covering to turn crusty. The consistency should be like thick dosa batter. If the batter turns runny, add little dry rice flour.

• Heat oil for deep frying. Check if the oil is hot by dropping a small portion of batter, it must come up.  

• Next drop one ball each time to the batter, take a tablespoon and coat it well and swipe off the excess drippings. Then drop it in the oil.

• Do not disturb for a min or more to prevent breaking. Fry till golden on a medium heat. Stir them in between. Fry them in batches till you finish off all the balls.

• Repeat frying poornam boorelu for a min or two for extra crust.

• Cool them completely and its ready For serving

• Heat up little ghee in a small bowl, make a small hole in the center. Pour little ghee and enjoy.

Recipe Notes

In case your batter becomes runny, you can save it by mixing little rice flour to the batter and bring it to the right consistency. rice flour must be at room temperature. This will make the outer covering slightly hard based on how much flour is used.