Poori Recipe - Puri
Poori is a very popular Indian deep fried bread. These soft, slightly crispy, and delicious pooris are made with wheat flour.
Equipment
- Wooden chakla belan
- Slotted spoon
- Kadhai
Ingredients
- 2 cup Wheat flour
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1/8 tsp Sugar
- 2 tsp Oil for the dough
- 1.5 cup Oil for frying
- 3/4 cup Water
Instructions
For Making the Dough
- In a large bowl, combine wheat flour, salt, sugar, and mix everything well.
- Make a well, add half of the oil, and start adding some water little at a time.
- Start kneading the dough so it becomes stiff. If the dough is too dry, add a teaspoon of water one at a time to form a dough.
- Next, add the leftover oil and knead the dough for another minute to form a smooth dough.
- Cover the dough with a clean cloth and set it aside for 5-10 minutes.
- Knead the dough again for 15 seconds, divide it into 18-20 equal lemon sized balls, and slightly press them. Set aside by covering them with a cloth.
- Grease some oil on the work surface and your rolling pin - never dust flour on the surface or else your poori will absorb more oil and may turn oily.
Rolling The Poori
- With a rolling pin, roll out each ball into a 4 inch disc. Do not roll the pooris very thin or too thick - around 1mm in the thickness.
- Make around 6-7 pooris at a time and cover them with a cloth so they will not dry out. Do not stack the pooris or they will stick to each other.
Frying The Poori
- Line a plate with paper towels to absorb the extra oil from the pooris.
- Heat some oil in a kadhai (pan) on medium heat. To check if the oil is hot enough, drop a small ball of dough in the hot oil. If it rises immediately that means the oil is ready for frying.
- Once the oil is hot, slide the poori and press down gently with the back of a slotted spoon - it helps to puff up the poori.
- Once the poori is puffed up, flip it and cook the other side for about 10-15 seconds or until golden.
- Transfer the poori to a lined plate using a slotted spatula to drain off the oil.
- Keep on frying the rest of the pooris. Check for oil temperature before frying the next poori.
- Lower the heat and roll out the next batch of pooris in the same manner. Increase the heat to medium making sure the oil is hot enough to fry the next batch of pooris.
Notes
- The key for making the best poori is to form a stiff dough. The dough should be soft and smooth without adding too much water.
- The dough should not be rested for longer than 10 minutes - if you rest the dough for longer, it will start to release more moisture and the pooris will turn oily once you fry them.
- If your dough is sticking while rolling a poori, add some flour in the dough to make it a little stiff, and roll them.
- Greasing some oil to the work surface will help not to stick the poori while rolling. You can add a few drops of oil as you need while rolling all the pooris.
- Avoid using dry flour to roll out the pooris. When the flour comes into contact with the hot oil, the flour particles will start burning - they will leave some black residue over the poori.
- Do not roll out the poori too thin - once you fry them they will turn hard and very crispy. Do not roll out the poori too thick - they might turn very chewy, undercooked from inside, and not light or airy.
- Checking out the oil temperature before frying each poori is very important to get them perfectly puffed up or else they will turn flat. You can increase or lower the temperature as you go to maintain the correct temperature of the oil.
- Each poori will take around 20-25 seconds in total from both sides to fry. If you fry them for longer, they might turn hard and oily.