Poori is a famous recipe in India. It is a puffed Indian bread, made with wheat or maida, salt and water. Dough is then rolled out into circle and then deep fried in oil. It is often served for weekend breakfast. Good accompaniment for poori is potato based curries, dal and channa masala.

   Ingredients

         2 Cups of Wheat Flour
         1 Tsp of Oil
         Salt as per taste
         Cold Water as required
         Oil for deep frying


   Method

• In a wide bowl, add wheat flour, salt, oil, mix well. Add little by little water, knead well, until you get tough dough. Leave aside for 1/2 hr.
• Make a equally sized balls out of the dough, roll it out with a rolling pin make sure it should be thick.
• Heat oil in a frying pan, gently drop one by one. While frying, gently press on sides with a spatula, so that poori puffs up. Also cook on other sides, until it turns to golden brown color.
• Gently take out, drain the oil and keep it in a bowl with a paper towel at the bottom.
• Hot puffed poori is ready to serve.

                                   POTATO MASALA

   
    Ingredients

             2 medium size Boiled Red potatoes
             1 Large Onion ( Sliced Lengthwise)
             2 Medium Size Tomatoes
             1/2 Tsp of Turmeric Powder
             3/4 Tsp of Red Chilly Powder
             Few Coriander Leaves to Garnish
             3 Drops of Lemon juice
             Salt to taste


   To Grind

            2 Green Chillies
            1/2 Inch of Ginger

   To Temper

            1 Tbsp of Oil
            1 Tsp of Mustard
            3/4 Tsp of Fennel Seeds
            Few Curry Leaves
            
   Method

• Heat a pan with oil, add mustard, fennel seeds and curry leaves, wait let it crackles for 1 min.
• Add sliced onion and salt, fry for a 1-2 mins.
• Add chopped tomatoes, ground green chillies-ginger paste, fry for 2-3 mins until it gets mushy and raw smell vanishes.
• Add turmeric powder, chilly powder, sauté well for a min.
• Add potato, mix well until it gets completely coated with masala. Add little water and keep it covered and cook for 5 mins.
• Once it done, check the salt and switch off the stove, garnish with cilantro and lemon juice. mix well.
• Hot poori potato masala is ready to serve.

     
   Tips

• Serve with hot, puffy poori.
• Don’t add too much of water to the flour, as poori absorbs more oil while frying.
• You can add little rawa to the flour, to make crispy poori.
• You can use either red or yellow potatoes to make masala.
• You can also add wheat flour or gram flour, for thickening the potato masala.
• You can also add green peas to this potato masala recipe.
• You can spread the masala over the dosa, to get masala dosa.

          Tamarind rice/ Puliyogare/ Puliyodharai is a famous and traditional dish in southern part of India. Puli means sour taste and ogara means rice, thus it means sour tasting rice. This dish is made with boiled rice mixed with tamarind juice and spice powder. This rice is served as prasad in many south Indian temples. Also it’s a famous picnic lunch.

     Ingredients

               1 Cup of Boiled Rice
               Lemon Size Tamarind
               1/2 Tsp of Jaggery
               Salt as needed
            
     To Grind – I

                2 Tbsp of Red Chillies
                1 Tbsp of Coriander Seeds
                1 Tbsp of Cumin
                1 Tbsp of Fenugreek
                Few Curry Leaves
                1 Tbsp of Black Pepper
                1/2 Tsp of Turmeric Powder
                1/2 Tsp of Asafoetida

    To Grind – II

                2 Tsp of Coriander Seeds
                     

    To Temper

               2 Tbsp of Sesame Oil or Gingelly Oil
               1 Tsp of Mustard
               1 Tsp of Urad Dal
               1 Tbsp of Channa Dal
               Few Curry Leaves
               Pinch of Asafoetida
               3 Tbsp of Roasted Peanuts
               Few Cashews
               1/2 Tsp of Turmeric Powder
          
    Method

       Soak tamarind in warm water for 15-20 mins and then extract the tamarind juice from it. keep it aside.

   Powder -I 

      Heat a pan and dry roast all the ” To Grind – I” ingredients to a golden brown and grind it into a fine powder. Only 2 tbsp is needed for this recipe and the remaining powder can be stored in a airtight container. In future, you can use this powder to make rasam.

   Powder -II

       Heat a pan and dry roast all the ” To Grind – II” ingredients to a golden brown and grind it into a fine powder. Keep it aside.

  Making of tamarind Sauce ( Pulikachal)

     Heat a pan with tamarind juice, allow it to boil for 10 mins until raw smell vanishes or the volume reduced by half. Add 2 tbsp of powder I, stir well until the mixture gets thick. Once it done, switch off the stove.

• Heat a wide pan with oil, add the ” To Temper ” ingredients in the same order and fry until it turns light brown color.  Add powder II and fry for a min. Add tamarind mixture, salt and jaggery. Stir well until the mixture gets thick like in the below photo. Switch off the stove. Let it cool down for 15-20 mins.

• Finally add the required boiled rice to the pan, drizzle little oil on top and give a quick stir. Let it rest for 30 mins before you serve.

  Tips

• Water ratio for basmati rice is 1 :1.5 Cups of water.
• You can use powder I as rasam powder.
• Adding jaggery is optional. Adding jaggery is to balance the sourness of the tamarind juice.
• You can store the remaining tamarind sauce in the refrigerator, it will stay for 3-5 days.

  Health benefits of Tamarind

• Tamarind has more health benefits it contains essential volatile chemical compounds, vitamins, fibers and minerals.
• Rich in tartaric acid, a powerful antioxidant.
• Acts as a blood purifier.