Puri -- Unleavened and Puffed Flatbread

Puri (pronounced poori) is an unleavened flatbread that is very common in India and is cooked especially during festivals and special occasions. This is the final part of our Ashtami meal. 

Ingredients:

1 cup atta (whole wheat flour)
Half cup water 
1 tbsp ajwain (carom seeds)
Half tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
Vegetable oil to deep fry

Method:

1. In a large bowl, put atta, salt, ajwain, oil and add water as needed to make a firm dough. The dough should be slightly tighter than usual but smooth. Put oil in your hands and knead the dough. 

2. Cover the dough with a damn cloth and let it rest for half an hour. 

3. Make small round balls of the dough (a little smaller than golf balls). In the picture above, I've made two small balls out of the dough.

4. Use a rolling pin to roll out about 6 inch disks. Put a few drops of oil on the surface and rolling pin to keep it from sticking.

Note: You can roll out 4-5 puris. Don't roll all together because they will start to dry and won't puff later. The dough should yield at least 10 puris.

5. Now in a frying pan, heat oil for deep frying. 

6. Place one puri at a time in the oil and press it down on one side of the disk. It should puff up.

Note: Remember to press it from one side of the disc otherwise it won't puff up. 

7. Now turn it over to cook the other side. It should be very light brown in color.

8. Remove from the pan and place it on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil. 

Serve puri with the black chickpeas sundal and sooji ka halva. All three taste great when eaten together. 

We made an offering (Bhog) of the meal I cooked to the Goddess and later ate it as prashad. The prashad is considered to have the diety's blessings residing within it.

Well, this is it for my Ashtami posts. I love eating this meal and look forward to it every year. Try to make it at home. All three recipes are fairly simple and don't take very long to make. Give it a shot. 

The day after tomorrow is Navmi. The ninth and final day of Navratri. 

Until then. 

Hope everyone had a nice day.  

Lovelove!

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