A few weeks back I made a curry for a friend and me. While I was at it, I made poories/puries to scoop up the lovely sauce that was left behind. What is a poori? It is very much like a chapati, a flat bread, that is fried.

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The difference between a chapati and a poori is the addition of a little oil. If you have ever had Indian Fry Bread or Mexican Sopaipillas, then you have something like a poori.

    2 oz all-purpose flour
    2 oz whole-wheat flour
    1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
    about 1/4 cup warm water
    oil for deep frying

Sift flours and salt into a medium bowl. Stir in tablespoon oil and mix in enough of the water to make a soft dough.

Knead dough 5 minutes and then lightly cover with oil and plu in a plastic bag and let rest 30 minutes. Divide dough into 12 pieces; roll into balls. Dust balls with flour and cover with a damp cloth. Roll each ball out to about a 3-inch round, keeping unrolled balls and finished rounds covered with a cloth.

Half-fill a deep pan or deep-fryer with oil and heat until very hot over medium heat. Fry one or two poori at a time, turning over once, for 30-60 seconds. Keep patting top of the poori gently with a slotted spoon as they cook in order to make them puff up.

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Serve at once.

Eaten by themselves they are rather tasteless, but used like a biscuit with a good Indian stew they are delicious.

And, while very non-Indian, they aren’t bad coated with a little powdered sugar.

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This week was Potluck with I Heart Cooking Club and while we are cooking with Donna Hay until the end of March 2014 we can use any of the past chefs for Potluck. Again I went with Madjur Jaffrey. The recipe is on page 820 of The Madjur Jaffrey Cookbook Go visit with the other members of IHCC and check out their POTLUCK dishes.

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