Deep-fried whole wheat breads with cumin (puri)

16 Puri

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
-north India
2 cups Flour, atta; or whole wheat
1 cup Flour
1 teaspoon Black pepper, ground
1 teaspoon Cumin, ground
½ teaspoon Turmeric
1 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Oil; or ghee
1½ cup Yogurt
Oil; for deep-frying

Directions

FLATBREADS & FLAVORS; ALFORD

In medium bowl, mix flours and seasonings. Sprinkle oil over dry ingredients and rub in with your fingers. Add yogurt a little at a time, until a kneadable dough forms. The dough should be on the stiff side, but still easily kneadable; adjust amount of yogurt as necessary. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead 8-10 minutes.

Rinse out, dry, and lightly oil bowl. Return bread to bowl, cover, and rest ½-2 hours.

Divide dough into 1 ball per puri. Flatten each ball between your lightly floured palms and set aside; do not stack. Cover with plastic wrap. You can either heat the oil and then roll out the puris as you cook them, or roll out all the puris first. We prefer the latter, as it gives us time to concentrate on the deep-frying. Roll out each puri into a circle approximately 6" in diameter. Set aside (do not stack them) and cover with plastic wrap.

Heat oil for deep-frying in large wok or deep pot over medium-high heat to 375 F. You can test the oil by frying a dried bread cube; if oil is hot enough, the cube should brown in less than 1 minute, but not instantly.

Adjust heat accordingly.

Set out wooden bowl lned with paper towels. Start frying one puri. Lay it gently in oil. Puri will sink at first, then will rise to surface. (If puri browns or blackens in less than 15 seconds, the oil is too hot; adjust heat as necessary.) After bread has risen to surface, touch gently with wooden spoon or slotted stainless steel spoon, forcing it downward with a quick motion. At this point, the puri should puff up into a balloon. Turn over and continue cooking 10-15 seconds. Remove to paper-lined platter to drain. Continue cooking the rest of the puris, 2-3 at a time, depending on the size of your wok. Serve hot with any curry or lentil dish.

Authors' comments: When we make puris, we generally plan to have guests on hand to share the pleasure of eating the breads. We make up a cool yogurt dish and a curry before we get started with deep-frying the puris; that way, we can serve the puris hot and at their best. Puris are particularly good with gujarati Mango Curr or Egg Curry with Tomato. We find these deep-fried breads are most successful when served with only one curry and perhaps a fresh chutney.

Nutritional Information per serving: xx calories, xx gm protein, xx gm carbohydrate, xx gm fat, x% Calories from fat, x mg chol, xx mg sodium, x g dietary fiber

Tyops courtesy of Sylvia Steiger, SylviaRN (at) CompuServe (dot) com Posted to MM-Recipes Digest by "Rfm" <Robert-Miles@...> on Sep 28, 98

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