Poori recipe (Yummy puffed up bread)

Poori's are one of my all time favourite breads in the world! They really do go with everything and they are a definite winner at any good party or festival! In fact they are the BEST breads for making on masses because you can roll out the disc's and lay them on a plate in a single layer so that they are fast when it comes to frying them all up.

Like chapati's there are a few factors that make the perfect poori. I really do find that you need the dough to be HARD! Otherwise the wont puff up properly and they will be oil soaked. I ALWAYS use some course semolina to help them crisp up. The last important thing you have to do is do NOT let the dough rest! It is always better to fry them as soon as you can after making the dough. I hope I haven't made it sound to hard to make because these breads are really good fun to cook and your kids will be so exited when the watch them puff up like a balloon. So go on... give my recipe a go and tell me what you think, because this way works for me every time!! :-) :-) :-)

Ingredients:-

to make about 6 poori's

1/2 cup chapati flour,
1 tbs course semolina,
a large pinch of salt,
about 1 1/2 tsp of oil,
enough water to make a hard/firm dough.

Directions:- Pre heat a small pan of oil on a medium heat. You need a few inches deep of oil.

1) Sieve the flour into a large bowl and add all of the ingredients except for the oil and mix well.

2) Add the water SLOWLY and knead the dough together until it forms a hard dough. It needs to be hard because you don't want to use any extra flour when you are rolling them out.

3) Roll out the dough to be a few millimetres thick. They need to be thicker than chapati's.

4) Test the oil with a small piece of dough and if the dough floats to the top when you put it in the oil should be ready. Teat the sample to see what you think.

5) Slide the poori gently into the oil, lightly pressing the poori to encourage it to puff up. When it is fully puffed, after a second gently turn over the poori to fry the other side.

6) Fry on that side for a few moments before draining on kitchen paper and serve immediately with your favourite curry but goes especially nice with prawn curry or Gujarati aloo

Mastering Chapati

This is an unleavened flat bread that is an absolute daily essential part to any home made curry! They go with EVERYTHING and can even make a nice healthy snack if you spice them up a little.

In India, chapati's replace the need of knives and forks. To eat with these, all you do is rip of a small part of the chapati, scoop up the delicious curry and shove it all in!! HEAVEN!!!

The say that it takes years and years to perfect the art of chapati making and I can certainly believe that tale! It has taken me years of practice to get to where I am now, but I am far from perfect. I think that the problem I have is that I don't have a gas cooker, so the puffing up can be a little inconsistent. If you have an electric cooker like myself, it is easier to make these puff up with a "dabba" which is in one of my pictures, or if you don't have one of these, you can use a damp cloth or a spatula, but a dabba works the best.

Ingredients:- for 3-4 people

1/2 a cup of Chapati flour ( I use the fine gold variety)
a pinch of salt
1 tbs oil
Enough warm water to make a soft but not sticky dough

Directions:-

1) Boil the kettle and let it cool slightly

2) While this is happening, sieve the flour into a large bowl and mix the salt and the oil in completely using your fingers to feel for any lumps.

3) Then slowly start to work in the water until it is a smooth dough. I always say the wetter, the better but not sticky!

4) Leave in a warm place covered with another bowl, or cling film for at least 1/2 hour. I usually make my dough before dinner and then make them all up at the end. This will just save your time but do what works best for you.

5)When the dough is ready it should have softened up, but if it is cold weather, i think it helps to just wizz the dough up in the microwave for about 10-20 seconds helps to soften up.

6) Pre heat a tawa, or a thick bottomed frying pan an a medium to hot heat while you are rolling the dough out. When you roll the dough out, don't worry to much about the shape, you just need to concentrate on getting the chapati dough absolutely level! no creases or slight uneven parts otherwise you bread will not puff up properly. so when I have finished rolling the dough out I always just go back over it with a regular rolling pin. This is only if you are using an Indian rolling pin. A good trick to see if it is completely level is to hold it up against the light quick.

7) When your bread is rolled out to be about 2mm thick and you are happy with the shape, ( traditionally circular ) slap it onto the heat and wait until it changes colour slightly and little bubbles start to appear.

8) Flip the chapati over and do the same thing but maybe just a few more second on this side than the other, so wait until you see larger bubbles forming.

9) Flip it over again and with your dabba, damp cloth or whatever you are using, kind of try and spread the air pockets around so that the whole thing puff's up like a balloon.

10) Place the chapati onto a piece of foil and spread lightly with butter.

11) Repeat the process with the rest of the dough, keeping the dough and the chapati's covered to prevent them from drying out.

Enjoy with your favourite curry.

Please comment and your advice is greatly appreciated. :-) :-)

Garlic, chilli and coriander naan bread recipe

I was so so chuffed with myself when i had a go at doing naan bread. It came out so so good i could of eaten just the naan bread on its own.

The first time i tried to make naan bread it came out very nice but it just tasted like normal bread. I make chapattis usually to go with my curry and on special occasions i would cook batura's or poories. But i have always loved naan so much so i had to give it another go.......

Ingredients:-

1 tsp yeast-mixed with warm water for 10-15 min
2 cups of plain white flour
2-3 tbs yogurt
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white sugar
2 tbs sunflower oil

To be mixed in at the end:- (combinations are changeable to suit your taste)

1-2 green chilli ( i like just one but two is very hot but nice)
3 roughly chopped garlic cloves (but according to taste. I sometimes use more or less)
2 tbs roughly chopped fresh coriander
1/2 tsp black onion seed's (kalonji) Optional

Butter or ghee for spreading:-

Directions:-
1)Mix the flour, yogurt, salt, sugar, oil and yeast together in a bowl and gently knead the dough gently in a folding action, just for a few minutes until the dough is smooth.

2)If you have a metal bowl, place the dough in there and in a warm place for at least 4 hours, but the longer the better. No more than 10 hours though otherwise the end result will be sour. Cover the bowl and prick one or two little holes to let a bit of oxygen in to help with the process.

3)Pre-heat the oven to full blast.

4)When the dough has risen to over double its volume, remove the cover and sprinkle on all of the other ingredients, reserving some of the coriander for sprinkling on at the end. Give the dough another quick knead just to roughly incorporate the ingredients together.

5)sprinkle a baking tray with some plane flour and press and shape the naan into the tray. It tends to work better if the edges are a bit thicker and parts of the inside nice and thin to crisp up.

6)Place on the very top shelf and keep a close eye on it because it can burn quickly. It should only need anything between 4-10 min but no more.

Sprinkle with coriander and serve with a meat or vegetable curry.