Masale wali Palak Puri/Spicy Puffed Spinach Bread

ndian food is never complete without the wonderful breads which are of vast and varied variety. Some of the ever popular ones are Naan, Paratha, Tandoori roti and of course the fluffy deep fried Puris.

We Indians have a special place in our heart for these cuties. Who doesn't love fried bread- sinful, but worth every little bite :) Weekend breakfasts, indulgent evening snack, lunch, dinner, picnics and lunch boxes, festivals and special occasions from birthdays to weddings, train journeys, famous street foods- all consist of one common thing - Puris.

Here's a confession- I am a puriholic. It has been my favorite bread since I was very little. These days I am not much into deep frying. In fact I try to avoid it at all cost but when it comes to puris I sometimes do go weak in my knees and indulges once every so often. For me, I don't even need a side - just some Indian pickle and I am all set.
This puri recipe here is how traditional puris are made in India but with a little twist. It is the same old puri but packed with the goodness of Spinach. This again is my mom's recipe as many others that you will find on USMasala. Serve with any kind of curry and creamy yogurt  srikhand or halwa or even some homemade pickle for am amazing breakfast or brunch.

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Aloo Puri

Ingredients:

1 Medium size Potato (parboiled) 

1 Cup All purpose flour / Maida

1/4 Tsp Chilly Flakes

1/4 Tsp Salt 

Oil for frying

2-3 Tsp of water

Lets Prepare:

1. Using a cheese grater grate the potato.
2. Add the chilly flakes, salt and all purpose flour to the grated potato.
3. Kneed the dough without adding water add very little water if needed while keeding.
4. Kneed the dough for 5-10 mins add 1/2 tsp of oil and kneed for another 2 more mins and cover allow the dough to rest for 1/2 hour.
5. Heat oil in a wok to fry puri on medium flame.
6. Make a fairly large roundle out of the prepared dough and dip in some flour before rolling out. roll out the dough to a large roti using a container lid or a small rounded cake pan cut out equal rounds out of the dough.
7. Slowly slide the rounds in the hot oil fry press the puri in oil to puff a bit and turn every sec once the color turns to light gold and the puri has cooked drain and serve hot with any gravy or dal...Enjoy..:)

You can also prepare roti out of the same dough if you dont like to prepare puri.

I've also done a detail video demo do watch and enjoy...:)

Banana Appam / Banana Poori

Ingredients:
1 Over Ripe Banana
3 to 4 Tbsp Jaggery
1 1/2 cups of All purpose Flour ( Maida)
1/4 Tsp Cumin Powder
2 Cardamom Pods
A pinch of Salt
Oil for frying

Lets Prepare:

• Add the banana, jaggery , cardamom, salt and cumin to a mixer jar and blend well till the banana goes to a mush.
• Transfer the banana mixture to a bowl start adding all purpose flour and kneed to a soft dough and add a tsp of oil while kneading the dough and cover and allow to rest for 1/2 hour.
• Roll out the dough and cut out using a cookie cutter or any cutter as per your choice and create neat looking shapes to fry in oil i prefer round shapes as its easy to handle .
• Heat oil in a pan and fry the cut out poori in hot oil drain and serve hot or cold...Enjoy...:)

Tips:   

• Use a over ripe banana for this recipe.
• All purpose flour depends while mixing the dough some times i add just 1/2 cup of flour this also depends on the quantity of the banana we use and sugar content makes the mixture watery .
• You can also use whole wheat flour for this recipe.
• Use vegetable oil while frying the poori.
• You can add nutmeg to this recipe.
• This appams can be stored for a week in a airtight box.

I've also done a detail demo video for this recipe watch enjoy and prepare it yourself...:)

Potato Jackfruit (Aloo Kathal) curry with Poori

It is amazing how we take certain things for granted. Growing up, Kathal (pronounced cut-hull) or Jack fruit used to be abundant during the summers. Mom used to make an amazing curry. So coming to the US, I was pretty disappointed that folks here did not even know what a jack fruit was let alone sell it. We had to go without it for a couple of years. To my absolute amazement, I found that they sold the canned variety in some oriental grocery stores. They were good to satisfy our craving for kathal but did not even come close to the taste of the fresh ones. The other day I decided to search for it on the web and found that there actually is a local farmer that has jack fruit trees and he sells the fruit at his store. The catch, his store was about a hundred miles from where I am. This past weekend, hubby and I decided to take the trip. Believe it or not, we drove a hundred miles (two hundred including the return!!) but it was all worth it as we came back with a huge 10 pound jack fruit :D (so much for my carbon footprint but hey 'am not gonna do this everyday... besides he charged me 20 bucks for it so that's a good deterrent for doing it very often)

Now I have 10 pounds of jack fruit that I want to use as I cannot afford to let it go bad. So get ready to see some kathal creations from me. Here is the first in the series. The most common and traditional kathal preparation in our household. It is a traditional kathal and potato curry with spicy onion gravy. The kathal is pan-fried to get a nice caramelization and then simmered in a nice spicy sauce. I just ate some and feel like having some more as I am writing this. It is best paired with pooris . In case you are not aware what a poori is it is a deep fried puffed unleavened bread. They are an absolute treat to eyes and taste buds alike!!

This is my Mom's recipe, so here goes

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