Pua from Bihar: Thin, Crisp Holi Sweet

Each festival in Bihar has a signature sweet linked with it: thekua for chhatth, pidukiya for teej, tilkut for Makar Sankranti – and pua for Holi. But when the goodies are this good, why wait for an occasion to cook? Build your own reason for sweet celebration.

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This post tells you how to make Bihar’s pua. Pua is sometimes confused with malpua, but the two are not the same. Malpua is soaked in sugar syrup post-frying, while pua is not – it has sugar mixed into the batter itself. A good pua is thin, crisp when just-fried, and mildly sweet. Because puas are dry and can pass for snacks as well as desserts, they are a popular "take-back-from-home" food for those studying/working away from home.

Ask anyone who has lived in a hostel – dabbas of pua can get licked clean in no time by a horde of hostel-mates.

You Need:

• Refined wheat flour (maida / मैदा) – 1 cup
• Semolina (sooji / सूजी or rava / रवा) – 1/4 cup
• Water – for making the batter
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Banana (ripe) – 1
• Dry fruits (walnuts, cashew nuts, raisins) – 2 tablespoons, finely chopped
• Dry coconut – 1 teaspoon, finely chopped/grated
• Cardamoms – 10
• Oil – for deep frying

How To Make Pua:

1. Make the batter

Place maida (refined wheat flour), sooji (semolina) and sugar in a pan. Stir in water, a little at a time, till the batter reaches dropping consistency.

What’s this "dropping consistency"?
The batter has dropping consistency when it slides slowly off the spoon when lifted. To test, dip a spoon into the batter and turn it over. If the batter sticks to the overturned spoon, it is too thick (=> add more water). If the batter pours down, it is too thin (=> add more flour to fix).

To use examples for comparison, pua batter should be like cake batter or pakoda batter. If it is like chapati dough or like lassi, you have more work to do to fix it.

Set the pua batter aside for 5 hours.

Peel and crush the cardamoms. Add powdered cardamom and chopped dry fruits to the batter.

Just before you’re about to fry the puas, mash a ripe banana and add it to the batter.

2. Fry the puas

In a wok or kadhai, heat enough oil for deep frying (one pua at a time).

To test that the oil is hot enough for frying: Gently drop a tiny blob of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and browns immediately, the oil is hot enough. If it doesn’t, the oil needs to be heated more. If the batter blob turns black, the oil is too hot – switch off the heat for a few seconds and then test again.

Using a ladle, spoon out the batter and pour it gently into the hot oil.

As it fries, the batter will (on its own) flatten out into disk shape and the edges will start to crisp up.

At this stage, while the surface below browns, use a flat spatula to slowly move the oil from the sides of the kadhai towards the center above the pua. This helps the pua to cook evenly.

After a minute or so, when the pua has browned from the bottom, turn it over and fry on the second side.

After another minute, use the spatula to press the pua on the side of the kadhai to release its excess oil.

Take the fried pua out of the pan and place it on absorbent paper. Repeat for the next pua.

Continue till all the batter has been used and the puas are ready.

Tips and Tricks:

• When you drop the batter in oil, you might see it stick to the bottom of the kadhai. Don’t panic and don’t get into frenzied scraping. After a while, the pua will leave the bottom of the kadhai of its own volition.

• Pua tastes best when not more than 1/4 inch thick. If your puas are turning out thicker, mix some more water into the batter.

• The action of sweeping oil from the sides towards the center also has the effect of giving a slight curl and extra crunch to the edges, as you can see from the pics.

Serving and Storage Recommendations:

Puas stay good for 2-3 days at room temperature, and upto a week if refrigerated. They taste best warm, a few minutes after they have been fried, or reheated if they have been refrigerated.

Fun fact: puas aren’t necessarily eaten as dessert – they are often served as main meal accompaniment. Sample this meal plate from a day after Holi: pua with chapatis, beetroot raita, lasooni dal, aloo capsicum dry sabzi around it!

Quick-reference recipe card that you can save or print:

Print Recipe

Pua from Bihar: Thin, crisp Holi sweet

Classic Bihari sweet / snack pua (पुआ), traditionally made during Holi.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Resting Time5 hours hrs

Total Time5 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Bihari

Diet: Vegetarian

Keyword: festive recipe, Indian sweet

Servings: 4

Author: The Steaming Pot

Ingredients

• 1 cup Refined wheat flour (maida) (मैदा in Hindi)
• 1/4 cup Semolina (sooji / rava) (सूजी / रवा in Hindi)
• ~1 cup Water (adjust as needed for making the batter)
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 Banana, ripe
• 2 tbsp Dry fruits & nuts, finely chopped (walnuts, cashew nuts, raisins)
• 1 tsp Dry coconut, finely chopped or grated
• 10 Cardamoms
• ~1 cup Oil (adjust as needed for deep frying)

Instructions

Make the batter

• Place maida (refined white flour), sooji (semolina) and sugar in a pan.
• Stir in water, a little at a time, till the batter reaches dropping consistency (See "Notes - A: Dropping consistency").
• Set the pua batter aside for 5 hours to rest.
• Peel and crush the cardamoms. Add powdered cardamom and chopped dry fruits to the batter.
• When you are just about to fry the puas, mash a ripe banana and add it to the batter.

Fry the puas

• In a wok or kadhai, heat enough oil for deep frying (one pua at a time). (See "Notes - B: When is the oil hot enough for frying?")
• Using a ladle, spoon out the batter and pour it gently into the hot oil. (See "Notes - C & D")
• As it fries, the batter will (on its own) flatten out into disk shape and the edges will start to crisp up.
• At this stage, while the surface below browns, use a flat spatula to slowly move the oil from the sides of the kadhai towards the center above the pua.
• After a minute or so, when the pua has browned from the bottom, turn it over and fry on the reverse.
• After another minute, use the spatula to press the pua on the side of the kadhai to release its excess oil.
• Take the fried pua out of the pan and place it on absorbent paper. Repeat for the next pua.
• Continue till all the batter has been used and the puas are ready.

Notes

1. Dropping consistency: The batter has "dropping consistency" when it slides slowly off the spoon when lifted. To test, dip a spoon into the batter and turn it over. If the batter sticks to the overturned spoon, it is too thick (=> add more water). If the batter pours down, it is too thin (=> add more flour).
2. When is the oil hot enough for fying?: To test that the oil is hot enough for frying: Gently drop a tiny blob of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and browns immediately, the oil is hot enough. If it doesn't, the oil needs to be heated more. If the batter blob turns black, the oil is too hot - switch off the heat for a few seconds and then test again.
3. When you drop the batter in oil, you might see it stick to the bottom of the kadhai. Don't worry about it - after a minute or so, the pua will leave the bottom of the kadhai on its own.
4. Pua tastes best when not more than 1/4 inch thick. If your puas are turning out thicker, mix some more water into the batter.

Related Recipes:

Browse through our Bihari recipe collection and learn how to make other delicacies from Bihar such as littis and parval chokha.

Or if you want to explore more dessert recipes, try out aate ka halwa, sabudana kheer, mango phirni.