poornam boorelu poornalu

Poornam Boorelu | How to Make Poornalu | Burelu Recipe

By Swasthi on July 11, 2022, Comments, Jump to Recipe

Poornam boorelu or poornalu are a popular delicacy from Andhra cuisine made with chana dal, jaggery, cardamoms, urad dal and rice. Poornalu are commonly prepared during festivals, weddings & other special occasions. Most telugu speaking homes prepare poornam boorelu for varalakshmi vratham & Durga Navratri to offer as naivedyam to the Goddess. These are then shared with family, friends & neighbors.

poornam boorelu poornalu

Poornalu are also made in other neighbouring states are known as sukhiyan in malayalam , suyam, suzhiyan or sugunta in other regional languages.

To make poornam boorelu, chana dal and jaggery balls known as poornam is prepared first. Then these balls are dipped in rice & urad dal batter. Lastly deep fried until crisp and golden.

It’s definitely an art to master these boorelu. Getting them in the right shape and crust that isn’t hard is something that comes by practice.

More about poornalu

Traditionally the outer covering batter was made with homemade pound rice flour which was later mixed with ground fluffy urad dal batter.

The rice and dal were soaked for a few hours. Then the rice was drained completely. Next while still moist it was pound to a fine flour & sieved.

These days since it is a lot of work, more women prefer to just soak rice and urad dal separately. Then blend them to batter. This is a short cut method without having to dry the rice and pound it separately.

Yes the traditional ones taste much better and the crust is light and delicate than what we get by following the shortcut method.

In this post I have shared the later method which is much easier even if you are a newbie.

This recipe was passed on to me by a group of Telugu speaking friends in Singapore which we all have been religiously following for years.

More Varalakshmi vratham recipes
Garelu or vadalu
Chakara pongali (sweet pongal)
Paramannam (rice payasam)
Pulihora
Pala thalikalu

More popular telugu recipes,
Bobbatlu
Pesarattu
Boondi ladoo
Kudumulu

Preparation

1. Soak urad dal and raw rice in enough water separately for 4 to 5 hrs.

Making poornam for burelu

2. In a heavy bottom pan, Cook channa dal with water till just cooked not mushy. You can also pressure cook but it may make the dal mushy. Keeping an eye on the dal is easy if cooked in a pot.

chana dal for making poornalu

3. To check you can take little dal in between your thumb and forefinger and mash it, you must be able to mash the dal fully and easily.

Or you can even take a tablespoon and try to mash few grains of dal against side of the utensil, the dal must get mashed well and easily. If the mentioned water is not enough sprinkle little more water, cover and cook.

cooked soft chana dal

4. Drain the excess water to a separate bowl. Mash the dal slightly with a dal masher or cool & pulse it in a blender (mixer). You can even use the base of a stainless steel glass to mash. I mashed it coarsely because we like it that way.

5. Optional – Add grated jaggery and 45 ml of water (3 tbsp.) to a utensil. Heat up and stir till the jaggery melts off completely. Set this aside. You can even heat up in a microwave. You can skip this step if your jaggery is free from stones and debris. You can also use the dal cooked water to dissolve the jaggery.

6. If using jaggery pour the jaggery syrup through a filter to remove impurities or debris. Do not add jaggery syrup or sugar in under cooked dal. Partially cooked dal turns hard. I added jaggery directly here as the one I used as clean free of any impurities.

adding jaggery to make poornam boorelu

7. Mix dal and jaggery well. Begin to cook to dissolve the jaggery. It dissolves and the entire mixture turns gooey. Cook until the moisture evaporates and the entire poornam mixture turns dry.

cooking chana dal and jaggery syrup for boorelu recipe

8. Turn off when it is completely dry.

cooked poornam mixture

9. Mash it as much as you desire. Then add cardamom powder and coconut (optional). Ideally poornam mixture is not smooth but coarse with some whole chana dal here and there.

adding cardamom powder

10. Make small lemon sized balls keep aside. You will be able to make 14 to 16 depending on the size.

poornam balls for boorelu

Blending batter for poornam boorelu

11. Drain off the excess water from urad dal completely.

12. Add it to a mixer jar along with little salt and cold or chilled water just enough to cover the dal. Grind till smooth, fluffy or frothy. Do not add too much water.

urad dal for batter

13. The batter has to be thick, fluffy and of dropping consistency or ribbon consistency. It should not be of free flowing consistency. Transfer this to a large pot.

thick fluffy urad dal batter

14. Drain off the rice in a colander, make sure there is no water in the rice.

15. Add it to the ground dal batter. Grind again by sprinkling little water as and when needed.

drained rice in mixer

16. We like to blend the rice slightly coarse as you see in the picture, this slight coarse batter gives a nice crust to the poornam boorelu without making the outer shell hard. The consistency must be like a thick dosa batter. If needed sprinkle little water while grinding.

Do not make the batter runny.

thick rice batter for poornalu

17. Mix both the urad dal and rice batter. The consistency should be thick as you see in the picture below. If the texture does not match that means the batter is runny and you will need to add some dry rice flour.

batter for poornalu

How to make poornam boorelu

18. Heat oil in a deep fry pan till hot, reduce the flame to medium, add one ball each time to the batter, dip , roll it in the batter gently with the help of a tablespoon.

dipping poornam in batter for poornalu

19. Swipe off the excess dripping batter to the bowl and drop in the hot oil, repeat the process for the other balls.

poornam in batter for frying poornam burelu

20. Do not disturb them for few seconds, then stir gently for even frying. Don’t be harsh, they might break and the stuffing will come out messing up the oil.

deep frying burelu

21. Fry them in batches till golden color.

golden fried poornam boorelu

22. Once cool, fry them again for a min, this way they stay crisp for longer time and will get the right golden color. The pictures you see were after frying the poornalu once. However this step is optional.

You will be left with little batter, you can use up to make punugulu.

Cool them completely and offer to the goddess. We usually make a dent in the center and add hot ghee to it and serve.

poornam boorelu recipe poornalu recipe

Tips

  • Always soak urad dal and rice separately as they need to be ground separately to different textures.
  • Do not over soak the dal or rice as oversoaking will not make crisp poornam boorelu.
  • Blend the urad dal batter to thick, fluffy & light batter adding cold water only as needed.
  • Blend rice to a slightly coarse texture to give a crisp texture.
  • The consistency of the batter must be thick and not free flowing.
  • Salt should be added while blending the batter and not later as adding latter thins down the batter to runny consistency.
  • As a quick fix, dry rice flour can be added to the runny batter. This helps to thicken the batter but the boorelu will come out slightly hard.
  • To make these poornam boorelu, I feel a table spoon works better than using our fingers. If you are a first timer, just go ahead using tablespoon.
  • Do not add jaggery to the chana dal unless it is cooked fully.

Variations

Homemade rice flour: (Make 1 day ahead) You can also soak the rice for 3 to 4 hours. Drain it completely and dry on a cloth. When the rice is slightly damp to touch you can process it in a mixer to fine flour. Sieve it and dry on a large plate without covering.

The next day just make urad dal batter as you would make for dosa. Then mix this with the dosa batter adding water just as needed.

Store bought flour: We usually do not use store bought flour to make naivedyam. But I have made it several times on occasions not for offering as naivedyam but for us. So store bought fine flour also works very well here. Just use 1:2 ratios for dal:rice.

Related Recipes

Recipe Card

poornam boorelu recipe poornalu

Poornam boorelu recipe | How to make poornalu | Burelu recipe

Poornalu or poornam burelu are sweet stuffed fried balls made as an offering to the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi & Durga. These are very popular in Andhra pradesh and are prepared during festivals.
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For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card

Prep Time4 hours
Cook Time1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time5 hours 15 minutes
Servings16
AuthorSwasthi

Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )

Ingredients for poornam

  • 1 cup channa dal or senagapappu
  • 1¾ to 2 cups water
  • 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
  • cup raw rice
  • 1 pinch salt
  • Oil for deep frying as needed


Instructions

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.
  • You can make punugulu with the left over batter.
  • Cool them completely and Offer Poornam Boorelu to Goddess Lakshmi. For serving – Heat up little ghee in a small bowl, make a small hole in the center. Pour little ghee and enjoy.


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.

Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.

For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.

NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)

Nutrition Facts
Poornam boorelu recipe | How to make poornalu | Burelu recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 236 Calories from Fat 36
% Daily Value*
Fat 4g6%
Sodium 4mg0%
Potassium 133mg4%
Carbohydrates 42g14%
Fiber 5g21%
Sugar 19g21%
Protein 6g12%
Vitamin A 5IU0%
Vitamin C 0.9mg1%
Calcium 23mg2%
Iron 1.9mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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© Swasthi’s Recipes

Poornam Boorelu | How to Make Poornalu | Burelu Recipe

About Swasthi

I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me

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Hi Swasthi, I have a doubt. Will 1:2 (urad dal and rice) make the boorelu crispy? I think 1:3 make them crispy. Please clarify.
Is there any specification regarding rice?Is Sona masoori rice suitable?

5 stars
As all your recipes, this also turned out too good.
Tried it for the first time and it’s perfect.
Thank you for the recipe Swasthi.

5 stars
Hi!

This recipe makes the idea of making poornam boorelu easy. Steps are explained in detail. Makes very tasty boorelu!!! My family always appreciates me whenever I make them. They are crispy outside and soft inside.

Having them hot hot with ghee poured in them takes us to a step nearer to heaven! 😉 That’s what my mom says when I make them following your recipe.

Thank you for the recipe!

Cynjini

5 stars
Thank you Swasthi for all the recipes. I love all your recipes and can never go wrong. Poornalu came out best!!!

5 stars
Hi….can 8 use dosa batter for outer covering

5 stars
I have become so used to the simple presentation and uniformly satisfactory end result, that I follows only this blog

5 stars
Hi swasthi gaaru, i am very afraid to make poornalu,i felt its very difficult process n if we fail whole thing will bcome waste. As today guru pournami i tried, the oucome was super bcoz of spoon technique easy to make round shape, outer layer was crispy. Poornam also perfect. Thanks a ton…. i felt very happy

Hi swasthi..
I tried and it came out really well..thanks for sharing the recipe…it was very helpful..

Thank you Swasthi… Your recipe is awesome and it helped alot … Whenever I make something its a disaster I tried couple of times and its a failure for sure…I made Boorelu for VaraLakshmi puja following u r recipe to the T and they turned out awesomeee?? … Friends and family thry loved it….I wish google told me about you blog a little sooner… Your trips and tricks are a life saviour for cooks like me… Can’t wait to try some more recipes from u r blog….

5 stars
Hi swasthi ela unavu ? I tried ur poornam booralu it was a hit . Tasty and easy . No we’re i had any issue while preparing I followed the same steps which u have given . This is my first time trying something with poornam and I’m happy my first time it was a hit . Ur an amazing cook . I have tried many recipes . Thank u for posting the recipe. And looking for more recipes .

5 stars
thank you

If u use dry flour instead raw rice n urad , will it be the same..

In the case of poornalu I have followed the instructions step by step but when deep frying the dal stuffing came out and messed up the oil. What could be the reason .?

These Poornam boorelu look so delicious. Totally apt for the festivities . Even my Mum-In-Law makes it. I always say mothers are treasure house of awesome dishes. So thanks to your mother for being the reason for these perfect looking tasty Poornam boorelu.

Hi swasthi! Would like to try this for varalakshmi vratam. Can you please tell me how to add coconut palm sugar if i want to try using it.

Hi swasthi! Very sorry for such a late reply. Just been busy and occupied with chantings and stuff in our condo this month and with my son. Dint try purnalu yet as one of my aunts said u wont get them right first time. So was lil discouraged. 🙁 But wil try them for sure.

Thanks a ton.for encouraging me. Ya i get uoset soon if anything doesn’t come out well 🙂