Beetroot poori (puri)
These attractive pink coloured pooris are a variation on the classic poori recipe. This recipe uses beetroot puree to make a classic Indian bread which not only looks pretty but has some added nutrients as well! The beetroot puree replaces most of the water required in a normal poori dough. You don't really get that much of a beetroot flavour with these, but these pooris are still delicious!
I tend to buy beetroots every other week - I like making salads out of them, using them in soups or roasting them with other veggies. You can check out some of my other beetroot recipes, including -
Pooris are made from basic store cupboard ingredients - wholewheat flour, salt & a little oil. Although not as common as roti or paratha (which feature almost daily), poori is a bread served more on special occasions. In my recipe for normal wholewheat pooris you can find the tips & tricks you need for making great pooris!
Makes 15-18 poori
2 cups / 250g wheatflour (atta)
1 tbsp fine semolina (rava) helps make the poori crispy on the outside
2 large peeled & cooked beetroots I just buy the precooked ones from the supermarket.
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
Water if required
Vegetable oil for deep frying
- Chop the cooked beetroots and add to a blender. Blend until you have a smooth puree with no lumps. Set this aside.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, semolina, salt & sugar. Mix well to ensure that everything is distributed evenly.
- Next, add the oil and rub into the flour.
- Next, make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add the prepared beetroot puree. Start kneading and bring together to make a tight and smooth dough
- If the beetroot puree was not enough to form a tight & smooth dough, add a few tbsp of water to help bind. I did end up adding around 2 tbsp more water. The dough should be tight - this will stop the dough absorbing a lot of oil during the deep frying.
- Once you have a smooth and tight dough, grease with a little oil, cover and let rest for 20 minutes.
- When the dough has rested, divide into 15-18 equal pieces, reserving a small piece for testing if the oil is hot enough later. Shape each piece into a round ball without any cracks!
- Take a kadai or large sturdy pan suitable for deep frying. Add enough oil for deep frying (they poori do need to submerge, so a shallow fry is not suitable here). Turn the heat to a medium-high and let the oil heat up.
- To start rolling the puris, take one of the dough balls. Flatten slightly and grease with around 1/2 tsp oil. Do not use flour as this will burn during the deep frying process.
- Roll out the dough ball to a circle, around 5mm thick. Keep rotating the disc to ensure that you get a round shape. To allow the poori puffs up during deep frying, rolling out evenly is the key. Repeat with the remaining pooris. As pooris cook very quickly, it is easier to roll them out all in one go and then fry them all in one go. Keep the rolled pooris on a plate and covered with a clean tea towel.
- To test if the oil is hot enough for frying, drop the small piece of dough you reserved. If it bubbles and floats straightaway, then you know the oil is hot enough. If it does not fizzle and float up straight away, then let the oil heat up for a few minutes more.
- When the oil is hot, careful drop in the rolled out poori disc.
- The poori will immediately start to fizzle. Press on the poori gently with a slotted spoon to encourage it to puff up and float to the surface.
- When the poori is golden on one side, gently flip the poori and fry until golden on the other side. It is a bit more difficult to tell with the pink colour if the poori is golden. Don't be tempted to cook them for a bit longer as they will end up going tough. If the oil is hot they don't actually need more than 30-45 seconds on each side.
- When the poori is golden brown all over, remove with a slotted spoon and place on a plate lined with kitchen paper.
- Repeat the frying process with the remaining rolled poori discs.
- Enjoy these poori with your favourite curries - I like to have them with punjabi chole. It makes for a really nice combo!
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