Name: Moog Puli
Prep time: 1 h 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 18 pulis
Cuisine: Indian

Yields

18 pulis

Cooking Time

2 hours

Ingredients

100 g moog dal
2 g salt
400 ml water (to boil the dal)
50 g rice flour
5 g ghee
100 g khejur'er patali gur (winter date-palm jaggery in solid form)
100 g freshly grated coconut
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
100 g sugar
20 ml water (for the syrup)
vegetable oil for frying

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"Moog puli" is a mung lentil based pastry stuffed with a sweet filling—we are using coconut and winter date-palm jaggery–then deep-fried and coated in a syrup. It is light, crisp, and salty-sweet. While we are using a grainy sugar coating, a jaggery based syrup is another option.

"Moog puli", often known as "bhaja puli" (fried puli) or "moog shamli" is a type of "pithe" (pronounced "pee-thay") which is an umbrella term used to describe a variety of items prepared using rice, date-palm jaggery (only available in winter), coconut, milk, and flour. Pithe is no single dish, but a category of sweets that are part of the cooking tradition dedicated exclusively to turning the season’s harvest into delectable foods.

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Recipe Notes

Method

Dry-roast moog dal until light-brown. Wash well and set it to boil with 2 g salt and 400 ml water. The dal will boil until it is soft and mushy, and the water has dried up fully.
While the dal is boiling, take grated coconut and patali gur in a kadai and mix it well by hand.
Turn on the heat and allow it to roast on medium flame for about 10 minutes until nutty. Remove from the heat immediately.
Toast sesame seeds separately and add them to the coconut-jaggery filling. Mix well. Set the filling aside while we prepare the coating.
The dal will have boiled by now. In case the water has not yet been fully absorbed, increase the heat to dry it up.
Whisk the dal well to break down the grains completely. Grains of dal will puncture the coating, so ensure they are fully mashed (you can blitz them in a mixer-grinder if you prefer).
With the pan at low heat, add rice flour and mix roughly. Cover and allow it to cook for 5 minutes, undisturbed.
After 5 minutes, mix the dough well.
Transfer to a work bench, drizzle some ghee and knead until the dough is even.
Divide into 18g portions. Keep covered to prevent them from drying out.
Flatten each portion by hand. Place the filling in the centre, close the ends, and shape into spindle-shaped puli. Ensure there are no cracks in the coating.
Fry on medium heat until brown. Be alert while doing so, as dal tends to burn very quickly.
Once all the puli have been fried, prepare a thick sugar syrup with 100 g sugar and 2 tbsp water. When it comes to a boil, add the puli and continue cooking until the sugar crystallises.
Remove from the pan and allow it to cool before eating.

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