Monday, August 30, 2010

Homemade Puris for Panipuri

My love for Panipuri is inexplicable. Known by different names such as golgappa, phuchka; panipuri is probably the most popular street food in India. Having good puris is the utmost requirement for a good panipuri. I usually use storebought puris, but most of the times they are not so fresh. And that is why I started making my own puris. Of course I don't always make them, as making them is quite a task. But believe me it is so worth it.

Puris for Panipuri are made with a semolina dough. The dough is then rolled and deep fried in oil. I have made these a few times now, and all I can say is they are way better than the puris we buy here at India grocery stores.

Puris for Panipuri
Making the dough is very simple, but what is difficult is rolling it out. To make this dough all you need is semolina, APF, salt and water. Most of the Indian stores carry panipuri flour. If you have that, all you need to do is form a dough. I normally use semolina, but this time I had some leftover panipuri flour from last time, so I used that instead.

Ingredients:

(makes about 12o puris of 1.5" diameter)
2 cups semolina
4-5 tbsp APF (more or less as needed to bind the dough together)
1/2 tsp salt
Warm water
Oil for deep frying
( If you use panipuri flour, skip APF)

1. In a bowl take semolina and salt, and soak it in little bit of water for about a minute. Now add APF and make a dough. Put about a quarter teaspoon of oil and knead until smooth. Make sure that the dough is firm.

2. Once dough is formed, let it rest for about 30 minutes.

3. To make puris, take some dough and roll it out very thin. Using a small cookie cutter cut it into individual puris.


4. Heat some oil and deep fry these puris on a medium heat until golden brown.

5. Let cool completely. Store in an air tight container.

Remember that this dough is very elastic and keeps stretching back. That is why it is very important to roll it out very thin. If you fry a thick dough, puris will be soft and not as hard as the ones needed for panipuri. If some of the puris don't puff up, don't worry - you can always use them for Ragda puri or Shev puri.

Before you store your puris, check if there are any soft puris in the batch. Sort them out, spread them on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake at 180-200(F) degree oven for about 20-30 minutes. Enjoy the fruit of your hard work!

You can find the recipe for Panipuri here.

And now a little quiz time. Can you guess what this is? I got it from the Farmer's market.
I will be back with the answer and a recipe for the above in a couple of days. See you then!

4 comments:

  1. Looks like Laal math we get here

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is it Lal math we get in India?
    -K

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love pani puris and my 4 year old son loves it too. WOuld love to make them at home. Can you please clarify what APF is?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous- Sure. APF stands for All Purpose Flour.

    ReplyDelete