Poornam Boorelu | Andhra Poornalu Recipe (Boorelu)

Just as India is a land of festivals, so it is, when it comes to festive foods. So, here’s another popular sweet snack – Poornam Boorelu – from the region of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in South India. It may also be just called as Boorelu or even Poornalu and is a special during the festival of Ugadi in this part of the country. The distinct feature about this dish is that it has a sweet, flavored stuffing that is coated with a rice-lentil batter and then deep-fried. Can definitely qualify as a vegan dish, if not using ghee.

These are deep fried snacks made with a stuffing of chana dal+jaggery and coated with rice+urad dal batter (similar to dosa batter).

During festival occasions in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana boorelu is prepared and offered as naivedyam to the deities. Since Ugadi festival is around the corner, sharing this recipe of poornam boorelu.

There are many variations of boorelu recipe. basically, the stuffing here is the ‘pooran’ which we make while preparing Puran poli or Bobbatlu.

If you have leftover pooran stuffing, then you can use it and make boorelu. I have not added fresh coconut in the recipe, but you can add about ¼ cup of fresh coconut.

Poornalu is very common in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana during festive occasions, where the dish is also offered to deities as naivedyam. You can also do the same and offer to your deity at home. Apart from this, these can be enjoyed as snacks with your teas and coffees too.

If you are looking for more Ugadi recipes then do check:

• Sweet Pongal
• Badam halwa
• Rava kesari
• Rava ladoo

How to make Poornam Boorelu

For batter

1. Rinse 1 cup of rice with water a couple of times and then add in a bowl.

2. Rinse ½ cup urad dal with water and then add in the same bowl.

3. Add 3 cups water. Cover and let the rice and urad dal soak for 5 to 6 hours or overnight.

4. Next day, drain all the water.

5. Then add the rice and urad dal in a grinder jar. Also add ½ to ⅔ cup water.

6. Grind to a smooth light batter. The batter consistency should be medium thick like dosa batter. If a drop of the batter is placed in a bowl of water, it should float and not sink.

7. Add ½ teaspoon salt or add as per taste.

8. Mix very well. Cover and keep the batter aside. If you want you can even ferment the batter for 4 to 5 hours.

Making stuffing for poornam boorelu

1. Rinse and then take 1 cup chana dal in a stovetop pressure cooker. If you want you can even soak chana dal.

2. Then add 2.5 cups water. pressure cook for 6 to 7 whistles on medium heat.

3. When the pressure settles down, then only open the lid of the cooker and check if the chana dal is cooked well. Take a few chana dals and mash it with your fingers. They should get mashed easily. Do take care as the dal is very hot.

4. Strain the chana dal and let it cool or become warm. Use the strained water for making Rasam or katachi amti. You can also knead atta with this water or add it to gravies or dals.

5. Then add the chana dal in a grinder jar.

6. Add 1 cup jaggery. I have used organic jaggery and hence not dissolved in water and then strained it.

7. Add ½ teaspoon cardamom powder and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder. You can skip nutmeg powder if you want.

8. Grind to a smooth consistency. If you are unable to grind, then you can add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water. Grind at intervals. Grind, then scrape the jar and grind again.

Making poornam boorelu

9. Heat 1 tablespoon ghee in a pan.

10. Add the ground chana dal+jaggery mixture. At this step you can also add ¼ cup grated coconut.

11. On a low heat stirring non stop cook the mixture till it starts to leave the edges of the pan.

12. Then switch off the heat and keep aside. Let the stuffing mixture cool down.

13. Make medium sized balls from the mixture and keep aside. Cover them so that they do not dry out.

14. In a kadai heat oil for deep frying. Dip the stuffing ball in the batter and coat it evenly.

15. Then gently slid the batter coated ball in medium hot oil.

16. This way add the remaining batter coated balls too. Do not overcrowd and add depending on the size of the kadai.

17. When one side is golden, gently turn over with a slotted spoon and fry the other side.

18. Fry boorelu till light golden and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon draining extra oil and place them on kitchen paper towels to absorb extra oil.

19. Offer boorelu to your deity Or else you can serve them hot to your family.

This Poornam Boorelu post from the archives, originally published in March 2017 has been updated and republished on February 2023.