Puran, Dal Baati or Dhokla? A Plain-English Guide to Ready Flour Mixes

Puran poli, dal baati and dhokla have one thing in common: the slow part happens before you ever touch a tawa. Puran means boiling chana dal and cooking it down with gul until a spoon stands up in it. Baati dough has to be mixed just right or it bakes into a rock. Dhokla batter needs the right lift or it comes out flat and dense.

A ready mix skips that first stage. It doesn't skip all the cooking, though, and each kind leaves a different amount of work for you. This guide explains what each mix does for you, what you still have to add, and which SHG-made packs on UmedMart work out cheapest per kilo.

Quick answer

A puran premix replaces the boiled, sweetened chana dal filling. You still make the wheat dough and roll the polis. A dal baati pith is the flour for the baati. You still cook the dal separately, and you need an oven, a gas tandoor or a kadhai to bake or fry the baati. A dhokla premix is the closest to a true shortcut: add water, and sometimes curd or fruit salt, then steam it and pour over a tadka. Read the pack before you start. What each mix leaves for you varies from maker to maker, and the listings don't always say.

Puran premix: the filling, minus three hours

Home-made puran usually starts with chana dal cooked until it's very soft. The dal is drained, mashed with gul, cooked again until thick, then flavoured with elaichi and jaiphal and passed through a puran yantra so it's smooth. Many families save the drained dal water for katachi amti, the thin, spiced dal that goes with puran poli.

A premix gives you a dry powder that you turn into that filling with water and a little time on the stove. RAJNANDINI's listing, for example, says to mix it with warm water to form a smooth filling. Two things to know before you buy:

• You won't have any kat for katachi amti. If the amti matters to you as much as the poli, boil a small handful of chana dal separately for it.
• "Puran poli powder" doesn't always mean the same thing. Some products sold for puran poli are just powdered jaggery, meant for people who cook their own dal. A premix should contain the dal as well. RAJNANDINI's listing talks mainly about deshi gul and doesn't list chana dal separately, and the other three listings below don't give ingredients, so check the pack.

How to tell the filling is ready: cook it on low heat, stirring, until it stops sticking to the pan and a spoon stands upright in the middle. If it's too loose, it will burst through the dough when you roll. If you're cooking the dal yourself instead, our guide to choosing deshi gul explains which form of jaggery melts most evenly.

Puran premixes on UmedMart

Per kilo, a premix costs a lot more than buying chana dal and gul separately. You're paying for the hours it saves. A 250 g pack is a sensible size to try first, because how sweet and how smooth a puran should be is very personal, and you'll know after one batch whether a maker's version suits your family.

Dal baati pith: flour for the baati, not the dal

Dal baati is best known as a dish of Rajasthan and Malwa, and it's widely made in Khandesh too. The baati is a hard, round wheat dumpling, baked until the crust cracks and then usually dunked in ghee. It's served with a thick dal and often with churma.

Baati dough is usually coarse wheat flour, sometimes with a little rava, plus salt, ajwain and a generous amount of ghee or oil rubbed in before water is added. That fat, called moyan, is what makes the baati crumbly inside rather than chewy. A dal baati pith is that coarse flour, ready-blended. None of the four listings below give exact ingredients, so check the pack to see whether salt and ajwain are already in, and whether it expects you to add the moyan.

A few practical points:

• Knead stiff. Baati dough should be firmer than chapati dough. Soft dough spreads and won't hold its shape.
• Bake low and slow. Medium heat until the baati is golden and cracks a little on top, turning once. Too hot and the outside burns before the middle cooks. Some families boil the dough balls first and then bake them (the Malwa bafla style), which gives a softer centre.
• The ghee is part of the dish, not an extra. Our cow ghee vs buffalo ghee comparison helps if you're choosing one for dunking.

Dal baati flours on UmedMart

Baati is filling, and a family meal can use most of a 500 g pack in one go. If dal baati is a regular Sunday lunch at home, the 1 kg JOGAI pack is the clear value pick. ANNAPURNA's 250 g pack is the cheapest way to try it once.

Dhokla premix: khaman, khamang, or dhokla?

The names on these packs are confusing, so here's the short version. In Gujarat, khaman is the soft, yellow, spongy cake made from besan (gram flour), and dhokla traditionally means a steamed cake made from a fermented rice-and-dal batter. Most of India now calls the yellow besan one dhokla, and that's what most of these premixes make. Khamang is a Marathi word meaning well-seasoned and savoury, so "khamang dhokla" on a Maharashtrian pack is a description, not a different dish.

What matters more than the name is how the mix rises. An instant besan dhokla needs a raising agent, usually fruit salt or soda with something sour like lemon or citric acid. Some premixes have it already mixed in, so you only add water. Others expect you to add curd or fruit salt yourself. Two of the listings below say which:

• Samarth's listing says just add water and steam.
• APURVA'S listing says mix with water, add curd and seasoning, steam, then temper.
• DHANYABHOJ's millet premix gives exact quantities: 100 g of mix to about 170 ml of water, rest the batter for 15 minutes, then steam. It's made from ragi (nachni), moong dal and urad dal flours rather than besan, so expect a darker dhokla with a different taste from the classic yellow one. Our millet names decoder explains nachni and ragi if the names are new to you.

For the rest, the instructions on the pack are the ones to follow.

Steaming: grease a thali or cake tin, pour the batter about an inch deep, and steam over boiling water for roughly 12 to 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Don't open the lid early. Tadka: heat a little oil, add mohari, hing, curry leaves and slit green chillies, then a few spoons of water and a pinch of sugar, and pour it over the cut dhokla while it's still warm. Groundnut oil is the usual choice; our wood-pressed oil guide compares the SHG-made options.

Dhokla premixes on UmedMart

The two 500 g packs, GURUDATTA and ANNAPURNA, cost almost exactly the same per kilo and are the best value if dhokla is a regular breakfast. For a first try, Samarth's 250 g pack is the cheapest small pack and the simplest to use, since its listing says water is all you add.

Storing ready mixes

All three kinds pick up moisture. Puran premix contains jaggery, which goes lumpy and sticky in humid weather. A dhokla mix with the raising agent already in it can lose some of its lift once the pack has been opened for a while in damp air. Tip the mix into an airtight steel or glass jar as soon as you open it, keep it away from the stove, and use it within a few weeks. In the monsoon, smaller packs are the safer buy.

Frequently asked questions

Is puran premix the same as puran poli powder?

Not always. Some products sold for puran poli are only powdered jaggery, meant for people who cook their own chana dal. A premix should also contain the dal. Check the ingredient list on the pack, because the names are used loosely.

Can I make katachi amti with a puran premix?

Not from the premix itself, because there's no dal water to drain off. Boil a small handful of chana dal separately and use that water for the amti.

What is the difference between khaman and dhokla?

Strictly, khaman is made from besan and dhokla from a fermented rice-and-dal batter. In everyday use, most people call the yellow besan version dhokla, and that's what most dhokla premixes make.

Why didn't my dhokla rise?

Usually because the raising agent was missing or had gone flat. Check whether your premix needs fruit salt or curd added, use fresh fruit salt, and get the batter into the steamer as soon as you've mixed it in.

Can I bake baati without an oven?

Yes. Many homes use a gas tandoor or a covered heavy kadhai on low heat, turning the baatis often. Some families boil the dough balls first and then roast or fry them, which needs less dry heat.

Which one to buy

If you've ever skipped puran poli because of the dal, start with a 250 g puran premix such as CHULHEWALI's. If dal baati is on the menu more than once a month, buy the 1 kg JOGAI pack. For dhokla, the 500 g GURUDATTA or ANNAPURNA pack is the everyday buy, and Samarth's 250 g pack is the easiest to start with. Every one of them is made by a women's Self-Help Group or small producer in Maharashtra, and they get a home-style meal on the table in a fraction of the time.

Making a different breakfast flour? Our thalipeeth flour guide covers bhajani, flour mixes and upwas thalipeeth.

Every product, price and stock position above was checked live on UmedMart on 9 October 2026. Small-batch SHG items sell out, so check the product page before ordering.

Related reading

• Bhajani, Flour Mix or Upwas? A Plain-English Guide to Buying Thalipeeth Flour: the other ready flour on a Maharashtrian shelf.
• Deshi Gul: Block, Cubes, or Powder?: for making puran from scratch.
• Cow Ghee or Buffalo Ghee? A Plain-English Comparison: for the baati.
• Jwari, Bajri, Nachni, Vari: Maharashtra's Millet Names, Decoded: what's in a millet dhokla mix.