Poori with Besan Aloo Curry

Blogging Marathon# 52: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Weekend Special Dinners

Dish: Poori with Aloo Curry
Poori with aloo curry is a classic combination that I crave once in a while but rarely make at home. First thing I'm reluctant to deep fry anything and second I'm scared that my pooris won't puff up and will turn hard. So I decided to give pooris another try one weekend.

I watched Vah Chef making pooris and gained some confidence. My pooris turned pretty good -- they were puffy, soft and didn't absorb too much oil. I made smallish pooris because I only have a small poori press :-) (The green contraption in the pic below).

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Mangalore Banana Buns

For this month's 'Indian Cooking Challenge', we are trying out a sweet & savory banana buns from Mangalore (in Karnataka). But these are not the typical yeast based banana buns or rolls, instead they are deep fried pooris made with a banana base dough.

The dough is quite sticky compared to regular poori dough and then dough is set aside to rest for at least 3~4 hours or even overnight. I was initially skeptical how these pooris would taste with the banana in it. I thought they would have a very sweet banana flavor, but I was wrong. The banana flavor is very mild and with the addition of cumin seeds, they taste more savory than sweet. Banana makes the pooris soft and fluffy.

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Bedmi Poori

Blogging Marathon: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Traditional Dishes
Dish: Bedmi Poori

Today's traditional dish is from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. It is a poori stuffed with  spiced urad dal paste. The end result is this slightly different pooris that are very filling and delicious.

I followed the recipes from Valli's and Vaishali's posts. My pooris didn't fluff up like Vaishali's, but they tasted great anyway.

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Luchi with Aloo'r Dom (Bengali Maida Puri with Aloo Curry)

For Day 6 of BM#5, I wanted to combine my bread making skills from BM#4 with the regional theme for BM#5 and make these Bengali maida puris. My puri making have improved after my mom sent a puri press to do the hard work. So now all I have to do is make the dough, press the puris in my puri press and fry the, up; really simple. Only thing is I don't like to deal all that oil afterwards and hence my reluctance to make anything fried.

Well today I made these yummy puris for lunch and the three of us ate all the puris. I felt so full and sleepy that I had to take a 2 hour siesta, which happens very rarely.

Recipe adapted from Sandeepa's Bong Cookbook.

Luchi:

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1½ cups
Whole wheat flour - ¾cup

Shortening or oil - 2tbsp (I used crisco)

Salt - ½tsp

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl until oil is evenly distributed in the flour.
• Add water a little at a time and form a stiff but pliable dough.
• Cover with a damp paper towel and rest for 30 minutes.
• Divide the dough into small Indian lime size pieces (limes & lemons in the U.S. are HUGE) and make them into smooth balls. Roll each ball into a not to thin, not too thick disc of about 3-4" diameter or if you have the puri press, just press the dough into a disc and place on a plate.
• Heat enough oil in a pan for deep frying. Oil should be really hot before making the puris. Slide one disc slowly into the oil and it should sizzle and if the oil temperature is right, it will rise to the top in matter of seconds. Press lightly on the top with a slotted spoon to make the puri puff up. flip and fry on the other side for 30 seconds. Remove on to paper towel lined plate and enjoy hot with Aloo'r dom or any other side dish.

Puri puffing up pictorial:

Aloo'r Dom (Bengali Dum Aloo):

Ingredients:

Small red skin potatoes - 8-10, boiled and peeled

Onion - 1 small, ground to a coarse paste

Tomato puree - ½ cup

Bay leaves - 2

Hing (Asafoetida) - a pinch

Ginger - 1 tsp, finely grated

Yogurt - 2tbsp

Ground Coriander - ½ tsp

Garam masala - ½tsp
Red chili powder - ½tsp (or to taste)
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Heat 2tbsp oil in a pan; add bay leaves and hing and once the oil gets fragrant add onions and sauté till they are lightly browned.
• Add the ginger paste and cook for another minute.
• Next add tomato puree, cover and cook till oil leaves the sides of the pan.
• In the meantime whisk the dry masala powders in yogurt and set aside.
• Once the tomato mixture is ready, take the pan off of the heat and slowly whisk in the yogurt mixture. This will avoid curdling of yogurt.
• Put the pan back on heat and slide in the potatoes (I cut them into half as they were little big, but if you have tiny potatoes use them whole), season with salt; cover and cook on low flame until the water in the gravy evaporates and the masala coats the potatoes.
• Enjoy with Luchi.

My son loved the puris and enjoyed them with some raspberry jam and we enjoyed them with aloo'r dom for a delicious Bengali menu for lunch.

Let's check out what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up today:
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Priya Suresh, Srivalli, Usha
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Vardhini,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Harini, Suma, Veena
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Aarthi, Kalyani, Pavani, Shylaja
Summer Coolers: PJ, Vaishali
Under 15 mins Quick Breakfast: Sushma Pinjala

T&T: Mahanandi

Indira & Mahanandi don’t need any introduction. To me nandyala.org/mahanandi is like google.com. Whenever I want to make simple homemade food, the first blog that I visit is Mahanandi. There are so many easy to make Andhra recipes, restaurant-style recipes, simple food but presented clearly & elegantly with fabulous pictures. I have tried many of her recipes, but there are lot many that I’ve bookmarked for trying.

Here are some of them I have tried and tested for Zlamushka’s T&T event.

Puri: I followed the Puri pictorial to the T. They turned out just delicious and not greasy at all unlike my own puris that usually left you with a unpleasant oil taste in your mouth.

Chole: Again I followed recipe to the T.

Palak Pasta: I used Indira’s Palak Paneer recipe and instead of adding paneer, I added pasta (campanelle) and it was amazing. I fed my son the same sauce with his pastina and he was smacking his lips the whole time.

Maida Puri with Aloo Kurma

My in-laws are visiting us from India and we are having a great time eating yummy snacks and food for the past 2 weeks. My MIL made these puris, they are similar to baturas but much faster to make.

Ingredients:
Maida (All purpose flour) – 1 cup
Sooji (semolina) – ¼ cup
Salt – pinch
Oil – 3tbsp

Method:

• Mix maida, sooji and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center.
  
• Add warm oil to the well, slowly mix in the flour. Add water as needed and make firm dough (thicker than chapathi dough). Cover and set aside for 10-15minutes.
  
• Roll out into 4”-5” diameter puris. Deep fry until golden and remove onto paper towels to absorb excess oil. Serve hot with any curry.

We had our puris with this is a quick and easy kurma that my MIL made.

Aloo Kurma:
Ingredients:
Potatoes – 3, medium, chopped into bite size pieces
Onion – 1 medium, roughly chopped
Green chilies – 4 medium
Coconut milk – ½ cup
Coriander leaves – ½ cup
Mint leaves - 1/4 cup
Ginger – 1”piece
Garlic – 2 cloves
Yogurt - 2tbsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Grind onions, chilies, ginger, garlic, coriander and mint into a smooth paste.
• Add 1tbsp oil in a pressure cooker, add the onion paste and sauté till slightly golden. Add potato, sauté for 5 minutes. Add coconut milk, yogurt, salt and 1cup water. Cover and cook for 2 whistles. Serve with puris.