Thursday, March 8, 2007

Poori and potato masala

In India, weekend breafasts would always be something extra special. One of them would be Poori masala. Wow...gone are those days. Just getting up and being served with hot food without even entering the kitchen. I wish I could rewind time.
But now,I still get the taste of the same poori masala except that I have to get up early (which I never like to do) and prepare things ahead of time.


I wish to share my story of how I made my first dough for poori. It was one of the first few days of my marriage when I wanted to impress my husband with my cooking. It was dinner time and I started to prepare the dough not knowing any measurements of flour and water. I kept on alternating flour and water to get the right consistency until I ended up in a quantity to feed a crowd.I kneaded the dough for 45 mins and my hands started to pain. Finally my husband came home to end my misery. We threw off everything and he prepared a new dough and fed me.
Did I mention ...My husband was the one who taught me everything about cooking. He fed me for one full month after our marriage and I faithfully took notes of what he did and here I am now....confidently posting my creations after 6 years of cooking experience.



Potato Masala
Ingredients:
Boiled potatoes- 4(medium size)

onion- 1 (medium,sliced)
tomato-1 (medium,chopped)
ginger- few bits
green chillies- 5(chopped)
turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
curry leaves
water
salt

Procedure:
Heat oil in kadai and splutter mustard seeds, urad dal and channa dal. Add onions,chillies,ginger,turmeric powder and curry leaves. Then put tomatoes and cook till soft. Now add mashed potatoes ,required salt and water. Bring to a boil. Serve with hot poori.


Poori:
Ingredients:
Atta - 1 cup
salt- as reqired
water
oil- 1tsp

Procedure:
Mix all with required water until you get a nice soft & thick dough. Take out small balls of the dough and spread it using a rolling pin. Puri has to be a little thick than what we do for chappathi. Heat oil in kadai and deep fry pooris.

Note: Now that I know how to make dough , I never measure the amount of water I use. Next time I will measure it and update it in this posting.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Respected Madam

I am learning to cook for the first time.I make dough adding adhoc amount of water.Sometimes the dough i ssmooth ,some times i have torrid time withit.

A hint on amount of water to add will be very helpful

Kribha said...

Hi Dear,
warm welcome to you. You don't have to be so formal.
Actually, I fully understand what you are talking about. There were many days when I dreaded to make dough for puris and rotis. It takes a little time to judge the amount of water without measuring cups. But I'm sure you can learn it very fast.
For puris you need a tighter dough. For 1 cup of atta ,1/4 to 1/2 cup of water,1/2 tsp salt and 2 tsp oil will be fine. Add water little by little and keep kneading until you form a ball. If the dough is too thick make a depression in the dough,add more water and knead again.
For rotis, you can add more water. The dough has to be soft.
I have heard that adding warm water or milk gives good results. I have not tried it but my trust worthy seniors have told me that. I guess you can try that also. Good luck. Keep visiting.

RV @ Food for 7 Stages said...

Hey Kribha,

I am cooking potato masala for the second time. It tastes awesome, thanks for the recipe.

Thanks.
Radhika.

Alex Mathew said...

It was amazing.. I just can't believe I ate this!!! I am going to tell my dad I made this today.. thanks!

Unknown said...

Porri is one of the famous Tamil dishes. This dish is liked by more children.

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Brook

Sreevysh Corp

Unknown said...

Hi,
The recipe sound great. You should post them on Samukam.com social network in the Tamil recipe/food section.
Best,
Thiru