Indian Potato Poories

I first began making poories about a year ago after I attentively watched Pinky's Aunt in her kitchen, stealing family secrets as I helped her prepare dinner *sneaky grin*. She didn't have an exact recipe with proportions of flour and the potato sizes often varied. It was in the feel of the fingers..and I'm glad I mastered the "feel" pretty quickly when I got home. I have been making these often since, as an accompaniment to curries or dhall...I also eat them crisp and fragrant on thier own. It's pretty good to have a quick recipe for Indian bread at the tip of your fingers, for those spontaneous snack nights or an extra dish for a dinner party. I do this by memory now...but for the first timer's I suggest these proportions I've laid out below.
I found it extremely difficult to describe the frying process(unless done with a video) with merely words; and I didn't think fiddling with a video cam while handling hot oil would be such a great idea~ I went into a search frenzy on google to see if anyone else has tried to put it in words. I found these very helpful tips from www.food.sify.com

Pooories are hot favorites all over India . Foreigners are fascinated with this Indian Balloon bread. Even the most renowned western chefs cannot help admiring the way they puff up in oil and hold their shape till it reaches the table. Here are some tips for making perfect poories.

1. The dough for basic pooris is made with whole wheat flour, salt, little oil ( about a tsp for 1 cup of flour) and water. Choose a strong flour i.e. Flour milled from hard wheat. Make a firm but pliable dough. If the dough is too soft, the pooris absorb a lot of oil and collapse soon after lifting them out of oil. If the dough is too hard the edges crack while rolling and poories do not puff well .
2. The thickness of rolled out poories should be about 1.5 mm. If they are too thick, on frying the top layer will be very thin and the bottom one too thick and under cooked in the middle. If too thin, they may not puff and if puffed, may not hold the shape long enough
3. Do not allow the rolled out poories to dry. Ideally roll few at a time and fry immediately. Lower the flame while rolling out the next few. If they are to be kept ready to roll, place them between two sheets of paper or covered with a moist cloth .
   
4. The oil should be hot and lightly smoking but not so hot as to cause blisters on the surface of the poories and give a burnt flavour. If the oil is not enough the poories do not puff up and will absorb more oil. Lower the poori in hot oil, and press gently into the oil with the back of the frying ladle, holding the laddle flat on the poori. When the poori begins to puff, turn it upside down. It will puff like a balloon. Let the under side cook for few seconds. Turn it once more to slightly crisp the top layer . Lift it out of oil, drain and place thin
side up. Serve as early as possible.

3 medium sized potatoes (3/4 cup compacted amount of cooked mash)
Boil the potatoes or cook them in the microwave skin on, peel and mash into a thick paste
1 1/2 cup plain flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garam masala
Your favourite curry to serve.....
Mix everything with 1 cup of flour...leave 1/2 cup aside for dusting and handling dough. Knead the dough till it forms a soft pliable dough. This should be done while the potatoes are still warm. Form into balls and roll out into 1.5 mm thickness. Deep fry thin circles of dough one at a time in a deep wok with enough hot vegetable oil to cover. Constantly splash the top of the poori with hot oil to allow poories to puff up. FLip when golden on the bottom and repeat on other side. Drain excess oil on paper towels.