POORIS
Serves: Makes 6 pooris.
Prep Time: 10 minutes.
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Dietary Style: Vegetarian.
DF Sub: Coconut oil.
Just adding that one extra step of deep frying your chapatti takes you to heaven—these pooris are the most delicious lunchtime meal served with channa and dal.
This is a great dish to get your kids into simple dough and bread making, and also to introduce them to the idea of spices: the ajwain is quite strong, it presents beautifully in this recipe.
If you are making for the family and feel the aroma of ajwain is too pungent then simply replace with cumin seed or fennel seed in the same quantity.
Atta flour and ajwain are available at Asian and Indian grocers.
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 cups vegetable oil
- 1 cup atta flour
- 1 tsp fine pink salt
- 1.5 tsp ajwain seed
- 1/2 tsp fine white salt
- 1 tsp ghee
- hot water
Pour your vegetable oil in to a heavy based pot, cast iron kadai, or deep fryer. Wait until you are ready to fry your pooris before heating.
In a mixing bowl, put together your atta flour, salts, and small amount of ghee.
Run a thin stream of hot water from the sink. Add water in thin streams, mixing your dough continuously by hand, until the mix is cool and soft with a putty or play-doh texture that is neither wet and squelch, nor dry and hard. The video provides good visual cues for how your dough should appear.
Knead your ball of dough on the bench for a few minutes and then leave to rest for 10 minutes or so.
Separate the ball of rested dough into six small rounds. Using a little of the atta flour to keep them from sticking to the rolling pin and the bench, roll out your balls until you form relatively thin rounds. Again, the video is a great visual instruction in terms of showing the technique.
Heat the oil until very hot. Fry the pooris one at a time, turning just once, until puffed and delicious. Eat straight away.