It is a nice and pleasant weather here in Florida today. While watering the Jasmine and Mango plants, hoping someday i will have a backyard filled with Jasmine aroma, while relishing the mangoes from the tree, which is a far fetched dream at this point. But hope is what makes life interesting, don't you think. I took a beautiful shot of the Flame of the Forest blooming in May. It was so fiery while the lake was so calm and untouched. What a contrast!
I have to be honest with the readers when i talk about Pooris - a Deep Fried Puffed Indian Bread made of wheat flour. I'm not a big fan of pooris when i was a kid. I guess i don't like many deep fried items in general even as an adult, which is a blessing (because it is Healthier) and a curse (because i miss out to taste and appreciate a lot of deep fried Indian food or snacks). I do rarely crave for poori and potato masala (south indian style) or poori and chole (north indian style).
The main reason i started making pooris and had to get a hang of how to make them is because of my kid. Whenever we go to my parents house, my mom will have her perfectly round pooris with Chicken Kuzhambu / Gravy ready for breakfast. That is the combo i grew up with. My son adores my mom's pooris and chicken. He will rate it the best in the world and mine goes to second in the line ;).
I know there are many tricks and tips to add in the dough like rava / sooji so that puffed up pooris will keep their shape without getting soggy and sad. But today I'm making it for lunch with just wheat flour on a Monday noon during Quarantine just see that big bright smile on my son's face and those sparkling eyes asking 'Mama, is it poori on a weekday?'. He couldn't believe his eyes...haha. It was worth the effort and time :).
Ingredients:
Wheat Flour - 2 cups
Water to knead
Salt as desired
Sunflower oil to drizzle
How to make the dough:
It took some trials to get a hang of kneading a roti dough versus kneading a poori dough. The poori dough needs to be stiff and tight. If you poke a finger in the dough, it should be like poking a clay. So use as little water as you go to knead the dough.
1. Take the dry flour in a pan, add salt and drizzle i tsp of oil to it. Mix well to get rid of any crumble or lump.
2. Add very little water at a time and keep mixing it until the dough has just enough water to be kneaded to a tight ball.
3.Be patient while kneading. If you spend a little more time than usual during this process, you will feel your heart puffing up with pride when you notice the pooris puffing up in oil :).
4. Keep the dough aside with a lid covered to make sure the dough doesn't get dry.
How to roll the dough for Pooris:
You can skip this step if you are using a Poori Presser like what my mom has. I dont have one where i live. So im going for the old school method of using Rolling pin.
While rolling the dough, add oil to a small pan to deep fry the pooris. Turn on the heat to more than medium so that oil gets heated.
1.Take a small size of dough, possibly shape of a table tennis ball. Roll them between your palm to get a smooth ball shape.
2. Dust it in dry flour. Press it on the kitchen counter top or rolling pan.
3. This step is as crucial as kneading the flour. Using a rolling pin, carefully smooth out the sides of the dough to make it to a flat round shape. Dont thin out the centre part too much otherwise there wont be enough dough left for the pooris to puff. The rolled out dough should be a little thicker than how we roll out for Phulkas.
4. Make a small batch so they can be fried one after another. Fry them immediately otherwise the dough can become dry.
How to fry the Pooris:
By now the oil should had heated up to fry the pooris.
1. Take a tiny bit of dough. Press is between your fingers and throw it in the hot oil. If it sizzles and floats on oil right away, the oil is hot enough for us to fry the pooris.
2. Take one poori a time, slide them gently into the oil. Make sure you do this carefully as you don't want hot oil to splash.
3. Once the poori rises to the top of the oil, press it gently in with a laddle. This helps the pooris to puff. Cook for few seconds and Turn to the other side and let it fry for few seconds. You should see light golden glaze on top. Remove the poori and place it on a paper towel for the oil to be absorbed.
4. Repeat step 2 and 3 for the rest of the rolled out dough.
Please watch the video below on how to fry the pooris:
Eat the Suda-Suda (Super Hot) right away with Aloo/Potato Masala or Chole/Channa Masala or Chicken Kumzhambu/Gravy. Today we had it with Split Green Lentils Dhaba Style Gravy. I will try to post the recipes for the above list one at a time. I served the pooris and dal with some cucumber-carrot salad and some home made Spiced up Buttermilk/ Chaas.
Guten Apetit!
Happy Puffing!!! :)
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