Poornam Boorelu is a delicious andhra sweet that is made for special occasions like Ugadi and other festivals. The traditional sweet is traditionally deep fried in oil and served with ghee. Talk about calorie overload!! By baking this dish, I have drastically reduced the amount of oil absorbed into this dish.
Other versions of Poornalu or Purnam Burelu include Suyyam in Tamil Nadu and sugiyan in Kerala cuisine.
Step By Step Pictures
Pressure cook 1 cup chana dal with 1 cup water for 2-3 whistles. Open cooker, add jaggery, elaichi and heat for 2 minutes till jaggery melts.
Add contents to food processor and make it as smooth or as coarse as you want. Once the mixture cools, roll small balls and keep aside.
Soak Urad dal and rice in water for 6-8 hours. Grind Urad dal to a smooth batter. Transfer Urad dal batter to stand mixer and whisk for 3-4 minutes.
Add rice batter, salt to this mixture and whisk until uniformly blended. Dip the poornam balls in batter.
Place the batter coated balls in a well-oiled non-stick donut hole pan. Place pan in a 450F (230C) pre-heated oven for 12 minutes.
After 12 minutes, take the pan out and using a butter knife, flip the boorelu around.
Place them back in the oven for 10 minutes. Take it out and serve!!
Recipe
Healthy Poornam Boorelu recipe made without frying
- 1 cup Chana Dal
- 1 cup Grated Jaggery
- 1/2 tsp Elaichi Powder
- 1/2 cup Urad Dal
- 1 cup Raw Rice
- 1/2 tsp Salt
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Pressure cook 1 cup chana dal with 1 cup water for 2-3 whistles. Open cooker, add jaggery, elaichi and heat for 2 minutes till jaggery melts.
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Add contents to food processor and make it as smooth or as coarse as you want. Once the mixture cools, roll small balls and keep aside.
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Soak Urad dal and rice in water for 6-8 hours. Grind Urad dal to a smooth batter.
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Transfer Urad dal batter to stand mixer and whisk for 3-4 minutes.
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Meanwhile, grind rice into a smooth batter. Add rice batter, salt to the whipped Urad dal batter and whisk until uniformly blended.
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Dip the poornam balls in batter and place in a well-oiled non-stick donut hole pan. Place pan in a 450F (230C) pre-heated oven for 12 minutes.
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After 12 minutes, take the pan out and using a butter knife, flip the boorelu around and place them back in the oven for 10 minutes. Take it out and serve!!
I have explained, in detail, the reason why I whip the Urad dal batter in my Vada post. Whipping aerates the batter and help it rise in the oven.
Conclusion
For the traditional fans, I recommend serving the baked version with ghee. It does increase the yumminess factor a notch. But, you can choose to avoid it also since it is quite delicious by itself.
For those who wonder, “why not fry? It is once in a while only…”, “What is the big deal to save calories all the time??…”I have addressed this issue here. If you have a good amount of self control, then yes…go ahead and indulge occasionally with a deep fried one. But in this day and age of excess calories, snacks, desserts everywhere…if you are looking to ‘healthify’ your recipe, then it is a worthy effort and something a lot of people are considering as well.
Hope this post gives you ideas and encouragement to make healthier version of this and other recipes. I hope you try it and let me know your feedback. Please post your comments below. As always, I look forward to hearing from you.
Amazon affliliate link: Donut hole pan
Just made them today and they turned out amazing. Thank you for the recipe.
Awesome!! Very happy to hear that Shilpa!!
How many does this recipe make?
I believe, you should be able to make between 16-20 in a batch using the donut pan.