A poori requires almost the same dough as the chapati, except there is a little oil in it. It is rolled out almost the same way too, but then, instead of being cooked on a hot, griddle-like surface, it is deep-fried quickly in hot oil, making it puff up like a balloon. (When the same bread is made with white flour, as it is in Bengal, it is called a loochi.) Pooris may be eaten with all curries and vegetables. At breakfast, pooris are often served with potato dishes—such as Potato and Pea Curry or Potatoes with Cumin and Mustard Seeds—and hot pickles and chutneys. They are eaten very much like chapatis—you break off a piece and roll some vegetable in it, then brush it against a pickle or chutney. We always took them on picnics with us, all stacked up inside a tin. On picnics and train journeys, they were eaten with ground-meat dishes and pickles, all at room temperature.
Recipe information
Yield
makes 12
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Put the flour and salt into a bowl. Dribble in the 1 tablespoon oil and rub it into the flour. Slowly add enough milk or water so you can gather all the dough together into a ball. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth. Make a ball. Rub the ball with a little oil and slip it into a Ziploc or other plastic bag and leave for 30 minutes.
Step 2
Pour oil for deep-frying into a wok, karhai, or frying pan and set on medium heat. In a wok or karhai, the oil should extend over a diameter of at least 6 inches. In a frying pan, you will need at least 1 inch of oil. Allow it time to heat up. Keep a large baking tray lined with paper towels next to you.
Step 3
Meanwhile knead the dough again and divide it into 12 balls. Keep 11 covered. Take the twelfth ball and rub it lightly with oil. Now flatten it into a patty and roll it out into a 5–5 1/2-inch round. Lift the round and fearlessly lay it on top of the hot oil without allowing it to fold up. It may sink, but should rise to the surface almost immediately. Now, using the back of a slotted spoon, keep pushing the poori under the surface of the oil with rapid, light strokes. It will resist and puff up in seconds. Turn it over and count to 2. Now lift the poori out of the oil and deposit it on top of the paper towels. Make all the pooris this way. Stack and cover tightly in foil if not eating right away.
