How to Make Poori Step by Step Instructions
Perfect Pooris every time with these easy detailed instructions
Ingredients
- 2 cups/10oz/285g whole wheat flour atta
- 1/2 tsp coarse salt
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup/4oz/120ml hot water plus one or two tablespoons
Instructions
Using Kitchenaid Stand Mixer
- Use Dough Hook for mixing. Put 2 cups of atta in the bowl, ½ tsp salt, 2 tsp vegetable oil, and 1/4 cup hot water (not boiling water, just hot) mix on stir speed and add water as necessary - another 1/4 cup. Then a tablespoon or two if needed. I always heat ¾ cup of water and have that ready in a measuring cup. So after you’ve used ½ cup, use a tablespoon and drizzle in additional water. When the dough hook has picked up all the flour in the bowl, go to speed 2. Then let the machine run for 5 minutes. The dough will come off the hook cleanly. Form it into a disc. It will be soft, press it with your finger and the indent should remain. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes.
By Hand
- Put the flour in a bowl, salt, oil, mix it up with your fingers. Add ½ cup of hot water all at once and mix. Get all the flour from the bottom of the bowl, knead it together. Sprinkle a little water on top if it’s dry and keep kneading until it forms a ball. Remove from bowl and knead dough on your countertop. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle a little flour on top. Knead for 5 minutes until the dough is soft and an indent remains. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes.
To Fry Pooris
- Heat up a pan to fry pooris. I use my Lodge mini wok which is extremely useful and not heavy compared to my other cast iron pans. It’s perfect for frying pooris because you don’t have to use so much oil. Add oil, just enough to deep fry the pooris, about a ⅓ of the way up the wok. While the oil is heating, roll out the dough. You’ll need a rolling pin and a little bowl with a tablespoon of oil. I like to use a tapered rolling pin, it’s lighter and much easier to use on this soft dough. Also, have a paper towel lined plate and a slotted spoon or spatula to drain the pooris.
- Take a small ball of dough and roll it in your palms. You should get about 14 balls depending on the size you want to make. It’s best to make small ones especially if you are new to making pooris. Make all the balls and keep them in a bowl covered with a cloth so they don’t dry out.
- Take one ball, flatten it a little and rub a drop of oil on the top and bottom so it’s easy to roll. Place the flattened ball on your counter. Starting from the middle, roll up and down once, pick up and turn the dough 90 degrees and roll it up and down once.
- It should resemble a circle, now all of the ones you roll won’t be perfectly round unless you’re an expert. But, they will still puff up. The poori should not be very thin like when you roll out dough for roti. It should be a little thicker but not too thick.
- The oil needs to be very hot, otherwise the pooris won’t puff up well. Take a tiny bit of dough and put it in the oil. If it floats up within a second or two, the oil is ready.
- Take the rolled dough and gently put it in the oil. Count to 4 and gently touch the top with your slotted spoon or spatula. It’ll puff up. Keep touching the top all over until it puffs up. Sometimes, it’ll puff up on it’s own without you touching the top. Every poori may not puff up completely. Turn the poori over and let the other side cook for a minute or less. It should be golden brown. You can gently press the poori so the sides touch the oil and cook. Drain the poori and place on the paper towel lined plate.
More Tips
- Now, you can roll each one and fry it or roll out a few, leave them on the counter and fry. I do one at a time since it takes just a few seconds to roll each one. If you want all the pooris to be perfectly round, roll out the entire dough in one shot and use a biscuit cutter to cut out perfectly shaped pooris. While frying, if you notice the pooris are getting too brown very quickly, turn the flame down a little.
