Puri (food)

Poori
Puris
Place of origin Indian Subcontinent
Region or state Bangladesh, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Georgia
Serving temperature Hot
Main ingredients Atta
Variations Bhatoora, Luchi, Sevpuri, Panipuri, Khachapuri

Poori (also spelled Puri) is an unleavened deep-fried bread, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is eaten for breakfast or as a snack or light meal. It is usually served with a savory curry or bhaji, as in Poori bhaji, but may also be eaten with sweet dishes.

Poori is most commonly served at breakfast. It is also served at special or ceremonial functions as part of ceremonial rituals along with other vegetarian food offered in prayer as prasadam. It’s similar to Gnocco fritto fried bread from Modena, Italy.

Name

The name poori derives from the Sanskrit word पूरिका (pūrikā), from पुर (pura) "filled". It has a similar name in many Asian languages including: Gujarati: પૂરી, Assamese: পুৰি (puri), Bengali: পুরি (Purī), Hindi: पूड़ी (pūḍī), Marathi: पूरी (pūrī), Kannada: ಪೂರಿ (pūri), Malayalam: പൂരി, Burmese: ပူရီ (pūrī), Nepali: पूरी (puri), Odia: ପୁରି (puri), Punjabi: ਪੁੜੀ (pūḍī), Tamil: பூரி (pūri), Telugu: పూరి (pūri), Urdu: پوری‬‎ (puri), and Georgian: პური (p'uri).

Ingredients

Puris are prepared with wheat flour, either atta (whole wheat flour), sooji (coarse wheat flour) or, most commonly, maida (refined wheat flour). In some recipes, ajwain or cumin seed is added to the dough. The dough is either rolled out in a small circle or rolled out and cut out in small circles, then deep fried in ghee or vegetable oil. While deep frying, puris puff up like a round ball because moisture in the dough changes into steam which expands in all directions. When they are golden-brown in color, they are removed and either served hot or saved for later use (as with the snack food pani puri). Rolled puris may be pricked with a fork before deep frying to make flat puris for chaat like bhel puri. A punctured puri does not puff when cooked because the steam escapes as it cooks.

Accompaniments

Indian puri with accompaniments

Puri can be eaten with many savory accompaniments, including korma, chana masala, dal, potato-based curries (for example, saagu, bhaji, bhujia, Aloo ki tarkari, shaak, and sambharo[1]), shrikhand and basundi. In some parts of India, puri is also served with a mixed vegetable dish that is prepared during Puja. Puri is also eaten with sweet accompaniments, such as kheer (a dessert prepared with rice, milk and sugar) or halwa (in Hindi-speaking regions of India, the expression "Halwa puri khana", "to eat puri with halwa", signifies a celebration – of possibly modest means). Puri is often the bread of choice for festivals and special occasions.

In the South of India, puri is almost always made for tiffin, and on the east coast (Andhra, Tamil Nadu) it's rarely eaten with non-vegetarian dishes. Often, they will be served with pickles, chutneys, dal masalas, potato masala, or gourd curry (either ivy, ridge, or bottle varieties).

Types, variants

A variant of puri is bhatoora, which is three times the size of a puri and served with chholey (spicy chick peas). It often constitutes a full meal. (See chole bhature). Bhatoora is made of a different flour; puri uses whole-wheat flour while bhatura uses leavened all-purpose flour (maida). In the Indian state of Odisha a large size puri is made during Bali Yatra which is called thunka puri (Odia: ଠୁଙ୍କା ପୁରି).[2][3][4][5][6]

Another variant, largely popular in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is bedvi. It is a saltier and stiffer version of the regular puri, and is often stuffed with lentils.[7]

Another variant of the puri popular in the eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha is the luchi. In Assam, it is pronounced as lusi. Luchis in Bengal are served with typical side dishes like aloor dum (potato preparation), begun bhaja (fried brinjal) and others

The puris used for panipuri are smaller, and are usually made crisper by the addition of rava/sooji (semolina) to the dough.

Sev puri is an Indian snack offered by street vendors who serve chaat.

Street vendors in Mumbai serve bhel in a throw-away folded leaf with a flat puri to scoop it.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chaturvedi, Anjana. "Poori Bhaji / Raswala Batata Nu Shak / Potatoes in spicy vegetable broth". Maayeka. Vegetarian Indian Cooking. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Overview of Cuttack
  3. ↑ Fanfare & spectacle mark the opening of Bali Yatra Archived 2015-04-03 at the Wayback Machine., November 10, 2011
  4. ↑ Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik inaugurates historic Baliyatra festival in Cuttack, November 22, 2010
  5. ↑ Bali Yatra Fever grips Cuttack, 12 November 2011
  6. ↑ Binita Jaiswal, Fanfare & spectacle mark the opening of Bali Yatra, Nov 10, 2011
  7. ↑ Chaturvedi, Anjana. "Daal Poori / Bedvi Poori". Maayeka. Vegetarian Indian Cooking. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
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