Yours Tastefully: Aloo Poori / Poori Bhaji

I laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaav aloo poori (and I don’t mind having it anytime of the day!), my baby (Shlok) finishes all the aloo in the bhaji and my hubby asks me when I’m gonna make poori next( biting on to his last poori). At my home it’s usually made for breakfast (lunch, tea or dinner) and mostly Sundays (so we can sit and gorge!). It’s an absolute family favourite. This dish is a hit with children and adults and is very easy to stir up when you have guests without notice. (guests are you listening??)

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

For the Aloo Bhaji

You need:
4-5 medium size potatoes (cut into four and boiled)
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp turmeric powder
2 medium size onions (roughly chopped)
2-3 green chillies (slit lengthwise)
2 sprigs of curry leaves
2tbsp cooking oil
salt to taste
water as required

For garnishing:
juice of half a lemon
fresh coriander leaves (chopped fine)

Step by step:
Heat oil in a non-stick pan, throw in the mustard seeds (slowly or they’ll be all over you) When they crackle, add the curry leaves, onions, and green chillies (in the same order) Stir till the onions turn translucent
Add turmeric powder and salt and stir for a minute
Peel the potatoes and crush them with your hand (enjoy being messy!) and add to the mixture
Add a cup of water and let it simmer on low heat for 5-10 minutes (if you want more gravy)
Transfer to serving dish
Garnish with a squeeze of lime and some chopped coriander leaves
Serve with hot pooris, chapathi, pav or bread

Now that the aloo bhaji is ready, let’s quickly get down to frying hot and crispy pooris… (I can’t wait...I’ve tasted the bhaji a lot of times on the pretext of checking salt!)

For the poori

You need:

3 cups atta (whole wheat flour)
½ cup atta (whole wheat flour) – for rolling
2 tsp of rava (semolina, sooji)
a pinch of sugar
Salt to taste
oil for deep frying
water (for kneading)

Step by step:
Mix atta, rava, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add water little by little to make firm dough (firmer than the chapathi dough). But do not knead too much. (For poories, it’s best if you knead the dough just ten minutes before you fry them). Keep aside for 15 minutes
Divide dough into 25-30 parts (size depends on how big you want the pooris to be)
Take one ball of dough at a time and roll it into a thin circle(not very thin) using a little more atta (atta stops the dough from sticking but use very sparingly or your oil will turn black in no time)
Heat oil in a deep bottom pan and when it is hot (check by adding a tiny piece of atta into the oil, if it comes to the top of the oil immediately that means it’s ready) gently slip in one poori from the side (very carefully or you’ll burn your fingers) .Press it lightly with a spatula(preferably the one that has holes so it can drain the oil easily) allow it rise completely and then turn over and cook the other side until the poori is crisp and golden on both sides.
Drain on to some paper towels
Repeat process until you’ve used up all the dough