Saturday, August 18, 2007

Party with Puri

Dear Foodies,

The day after Anita beckoned on us to party, we did just that ! Puri's definitely need no special festive occasion to find their way into our plates. My mom made them may be once in a month or so when we were kids. Like many have mentioned on their blogs, I loved to poke into the puffed up puri's well aware that the steam is going to hurt my hand ! I always ordered chole-bhatura at the chat places, the huge bhatura's with the tangy chole was too enticing to pass up. Even if I attempted to try something else seeing a plate of these beauties on the next table would be enough to change my mind :) I have made puri's a couple of times here and it surely is not too labor intensive. Infact a lot more easier than making chapati's and paratha's dosa's even. And there is the added bonus of frying up some papads and other sun-dried delicacies just so the oil is not wasted ;)

At my place my mother mostly paired puri with Bombay chutney. And before you think chutney !! let me clarify, its a potato gravy, neither from bombay and definitely not a chutney ! Why the name stuck I have no idea, its probably a common pairing in Bombay, but the chutney I have never understood. Its a simple but heavenly combo. And going by the other posts I have read through the week its a universal choice. Whats in a name, I say !

For the puri, I use just wheat flour, salt to taste, a little oil and required amount of water to make a stiff dough. My mom never allows the dough to sit for a long time as it absorbs more oil that way. So make the dough only when you are all ready to flatten it and fry. I follow no particular method, but blindly flatten them out into thin circular rounds. While frying them, keep pouring oil over the top surface with the slotted spoon and gently press the puri surface coaxing it to the puff up. It have always worked for me.

Bombay Chutney:
  • 3 nos - Potatoes, medium size
  • 2 nos - Green chillies, slit
  • 1 nos - Red Onion, sliced
  • 2 tsp - Ginger, finely chopped or a 1" piece crushed
  • 2 tsp - Besan/Gram flour
  • Salt to taste
Poppu/tadka:
  • 2 tsp - Oil
  • 2 tsp - Mustard seeds
  • 2-3 tsp - Chana dal
  • 1 sprig of curry leaves
  • A pinch of turmeric
  • Coriander leaves/cilantro for garnish
  • Lime juice for a final touch
Method:
  1. Scrub the potatoes and pressure cook them in water and salt until soft but not mushy. You can do this in the microwave too by adding a few spoons of water, salt and cook for a 8 mins covered. Once cooked peel and cut into cubes or simply crumble into chunks with your hands.
  2. In a pan heat the oil, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Next add the channa dal, as it turns golden add the curry leaves, a pinch of turmeric and green chillies.
  3. Saute for a min and add the onions. As they turn translucent, mix in the ginger and potatoes. Add 1 cup of water, salt if needed, cover and cook for 8-10 mins until the flavors blend well.
  4. Taste to check for the seasonings and add the besan mixed in a Tbsp of water. Let it come to boil and thicken.
  5. Garnish with cilantro and lime juice. Serve hot with puri, chapati or dosa. It does not pair so well with rice though.
It was wonderful as always. Ginger and green chilli is the main flavor to the dish. No garam masala or any other added embellishments to this one. The dash of lime juice in the end enlivens the whole dish, so don't skip that. We made it last weekend with two other friends visiting us. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon brunch. All of us loved it. Puri, has a lot of nostalgia attached to each one of us and can never ever get lost from our menu anytime soon.

We had half a gallon of milk lying the fridge nearing its death and so we decided to relieve it of its pain. I made Rasgulla's as they are one of the easiest sweets you can do out of the chenna. They did not fluff up as much this time but were just as good. With these juicy lil mouthfuls and some sweet and slightly sour Shrikand the brunch was super satisfying. Food plays such an important roles in our lives that we fail to take notice of it. Nourishment is just a side effect, its the nostalgia, the peace that it fills you with and the way it connects you to people building relations to cherish all through our lives that puts it in the spotlight (not to forget it becoming the center of most conversations :D)

Thank you Anita for getting all of us to pamper ourselves and our friends with this dish. And a huge thank you to my roomie who actually prepared this, I just blurted out the my mom's recipe and she got it to perfection !

26 thoughts:

bee said...

are those rasgollas? can i come over?

Namratha said...

This completely reminded of my mom Priya, we make Bombay gojju too with puris. I too have no idea why its called that...hehe ...and not to forget the poking the puris..gosh I used to do it too all the time...in fact I can't resist doing it even now! :)

Unknown said...

wow... lovely puris... ans ragollas too!!

Anonymous said...

Poori-bhaji and rasgulla and shrikhand!! Who is bekoning who?! Wonderful spread, perfect for the I-Day Celebrations! So glad your friends and roomie joined in as well!

(I tried the rasgullas some time back - mine didn't puff up either :-( - why do you think?)

TBC said...

What perfect pooris!

Santhi said...

puris and rasgollas..wow...what a party !!!

Shah cooks said...

u were really having a ball! puris and rasogollas. absolutely mouth watering.

Srivalli said...

lovely looking puris...

Srivalli
www.cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com

Sharmi said...

what a tempting palate. you bambay chutney looks out of the world. I can gobble up some rasgullas too. what a lovely pairing:)

Sreelu said...

hey this is exactly the way I make it, puri and bombay chutney. I always wondered why its called so.
one yummy dish

Jaya said...

Sometimes I think I just torture myself when I see your blog. Especially sometimes like this at work.. when lunch break is about an hour away and when the lunch itself is just sambar sadam. :)

Suganya said...

Lovely combo....Nice pictures...

marriedtoadesi.com said...

Dearest Priya, there is an award for you over at my site! Go pick it up....Hope you are having a great time, and man, what awesome puri's! I'm one of the few who didn't join in the fun, waaaah. I'm missing eating all those puri's!!!

Kanchana

Chef Jeena said...

Hi there I love the pictures of your pooris:) Nice blog Feel free to visit my blog too :) Click Here For Food Recipes

Arun Shanbhag said...

Priya -
I am salivating at those puris. We used to make the same "chutney" to go with the puris - we called it 'patal bhaji' (runny bhaji ?) to distinguish it from the 'sukka' bhaji :-)

I have not had such puffed up puris in quite a while.

Thank you for a wonderful collection of veg recipes;

and I love the Flag header you have! Very creative!

DeepzUnlimited said...

Hey Priya.....

Just saw this post while searchin for some yummy recipe to prepare today (dint see all these days as u made it easy bein here :) .... missing u da .....
And thanks for the credit... if it were not you, there wouldn't hav been puri n bombay chutney on that day!!!!

Priya said...


Thank you all for dropping by :) Puri & aloo is one combo no one can detest ! Glad all of you enjoyed my recipe's and do try the puri's with shrikand or mango pulp. The sweet and savory combo is really wonderful

Jaya, time for a visit :)

Arun, thank you for the compliment about the flag. I am really glad you stopped by or I would not have known of your blog. It is wonderful, I love the photos and the articles are lovely. Thanks for visiting, hope to see you here often.

Deepuuuuuu, this whole post is your creation :) I just wrote about it and took the credit :))

timepass said...

Hi Priya, this is my first visit to ur blog..Ur blog really lives up to its name..great

Nabeela said...

Hi Priya, long time no post. I was wondering how everything was in your side of the world. Anything new happening?

Arun Shanbhag said...

Hi Priya!
haven't seen an update from you in a while. Hope you are ok.
Was just here checking to see if you had posted anything new!
:-)
www.arunshanbhag.com

Priya said...

Hi Arun, Thank you soo much for checking on me. I am a little caught up with the non-foodie part of my life :)) But I am planning to make a comeback soon (may be tonight [???]), I still need to make that badam mix too :)

Have a great day,
Priya

Vasu said...

hey priya,
just wanted 2 let u knw...that u have a broken link..i was looking for the dal mussalam recipe..i got a page not found when i tried to acess that

Priya said...

Hi Vasudha,
Welcome to my blog and thank you for letting me know about the broken link ! I got that corrected.

Swaroopa said...

wow yummy post!! thanx for the post. also can u add me to ur blog list.

http://nourishingindianfood.blogspot.com/

thanx ahead

Suganya said...

Priyaaaaa.. Where are you?

Vaishali said...

Fabulous puris, Priya, and the chutney looks delicious.

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