Food better be Good: Dal Poori

I love fried anything but I am very skimpy with oil. I feel terribly guilty emptying a quarter of the 1 litre oil pack for making vadais or pooris. I sometimes overcome my “fried-manic-oil-phobic” concerns and go ahead and fry away. I did with this dal poori I found at gayathri’s blog and I loved it. The dal poori is beautiful. These are golden pooris stuffed with a subtly spiced channa dal mixture. The dal poori has so much going on on its own that it really didn’t need an accompaniment but if I did serve it with something, the something had to be fresh and simple. I made a tomato oambal and it seemed to be the best thing that happened to the Dal Poori. They were lovely together, the two of them. Cutest pair ever. Made for each other.

dal poori,channa dal stuffed poori,stuffed poori

I conveniently used Bihar’s Dal Poori for Jharkand as I’ve heard they’re very similar. After all Jharkand was part of Bihar up until 2000. Jharkand means “Land of forests” and it accounts for 40% of India’s mineral resources. Funny that many of the newly formed states are rich in mineral resources and majority of the people are poor. A convenient combination.

Nevertheless, Dal pooris are delicious and are a must try.

Prep time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Serves: 4-5

Ingredients – Poori

Wheat flour – 2 cups
Black sesame seeds – ¼ tsp
Salt – a pinch
Water as needed
Oil – for deep frying

Ingredients – Stuffing

Channa dal/Kadalai paruppu – ½ cup
Onion – 1 medium chopped fine
Green chillies – 2 chopped fine
Cumin seeds/Jeera – ½ tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Salt to taste
Garam Masala – ½ tsp
Oil – 2 tsp

Method

1. Combine wheat flour, salt and sesame seeds in a bowl and add water little at a time to make a soft firm dough. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside for half an hour. Meanwhile prepare the filling.

2. Pressure cook channa dal till soft. Drain the water and mash the dal. Set aside.

3. To a pan, add oil and when hot, add the cumin seeds. After about half a minute, add the chopped onions and green chillies and sauté till the onions turn translucent. Then add the mashed dal, turmeric powder, garam masala and salt and mix well. Cook on low heat till the dal mixture is quite dry and starts leaving the sides of the pan – about 5-8 minutes. Set aside.

4. Pinch lemon sized balls of the dough. Roll out each ball into a round disc. Place about 1-2 tbsp of the dal mixture at the centre of the disc and bring together the edges of the disc to enclose the stuffing and make a ball. Flatten again and roll out gently to a round disc making sure that the stuffing doesn’t ooze out. Repeat with the rest of the dough and stuffing.

5. Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai. When the oil is hot, gently slide a stuffed poori into the kadai. When the underside turns golden, flip over and cook till the other side also becomes golden brown. Remove onto absorbent paper. Fry the remaining pooris the same way. Serve hot.