POORI BHAJI
Poori/Puri is a crispy golden deep fried puffed Indian bread, which is a national favorite among India’s many bountiful breakfast options. Bhaji is India’s version of mashed potatoes with surplus spices added to it.Yes, you read it right, it is served as breakfast in Indian households. The more guilty ones could shift it to the brunch menu, it still works wonders.
It seemed like my taste buds have lost all their sensations, eating cereal, toast & fruit for breakfast every morning.The ads & the magazines said “Love your inner child” so decided to go with the flow today ,making Poori’s for breakfast. I realized that this is cooked so infrequently in this seemingly health conscious age yet ,some of us might have deprived ourselves for too long….for those of us wanting to join the guilt free wagon, get on board & work off the guilt by going for a longer walk in the evening.
Poori/Puri is made with all purpose flour(maida) or wheat flour or a mix of both.It is kneaded into a tough thick dough, with luke warm milk( to make them softer).Nothing tones your arm muscles as good as the kneading does and what’s more its a good way to vent the energy build up inside( yes, a softer way of addressing frustrations) . Then roll the bread into small disc shapes and fry them in hot oil to make delicious breakfast Poori’s/Indian bread.
This is usually accompanied by a mashed potato curry called “Bhaji” which is an ultra simple yellow hued delicacy, sprinkled with fresh hot green chillies, tomatoes, a lemony bite of cilantro/coriander leaves and the smokiness of cumin seeds.
This combination of Poori Bhaji is one of the hot favorites of every Indian meal.
Ingredients
- For Poori/Puri:
2 cups 2 All purpose flour
3/4 cup 3/4 Milk
1/4 tsp 1/4 Salt
2 tsp 2 Ghee
- For the Bhaji/Potato curry:
3 large 3 Potatoes
6 6 -8 Green chillies (lengthwise slit)
1 1 Onions (finely sliced)
1 1 -2 Tomatoes ( finely sliced)
1/2 tsp 1/2 Turmeric powder
1 tsp 1 Ginger garlic paste
Cilantro/Coriander leaves- a bunch (cut fine)
Salt- to taste
2 tbsp 2 Oil
1/2 tsp 1/2 Mustard seeds
1 tsp 1 Cumin seeds
Directions
- For Poori/Puri:
- Mix the flour gently by adding the luke warm milk to it along with the ghee into a thick dough like consistency after adding the salt.
- While mixing & set it aside covering the mixing bowl with a lid.
- After about 10 minutes,remove the dough & knead the dough into a thicker rope.
- Then take small amount of dough from the rope and make them into small round balls before rolling them into small disc shaped flattened breads.
- Now gently drop them in the hot oil , which you have on the stove ready for deep frying( usually a cup of oil suffices if it is a deeper shaped wok).
- Fry these disc shaped breads until they balloon up & gently turn them on each side with a slotted spoon, so that the excess oil runs out.
- Serve hot with Bhaji.
- Method for making Bhajji:
- In a wok , warm the oil, then add the mustard & cumin seeds , once they splutter add the green chillies.
- Now add the onions & saute them till they turn a golden brown, then add the tomatoes & ginger garlic paste & then cover with lid for a few minutes until the tomatoes soften.
- Now add the turmeric powder along with the boiled & mashed potatoes.Stir them well after adding salt to taste.
- Cook for a minutes, then remove from heat after garnishing with Cilantro/Coriander leaves.Serve hot with Pooris/Puris.
- Enjoy a healthy & scrumptious breakfast.
