Make your regular puris attractive by making these delicious and attractive whole wheat palak or spinach puris. These palak puris turn naturally green due to the addition of palak or spinach puree. Just mix palak puree in whole wheat flour and make a soft pliable dough. Use this dough to make puri or poori.
What is a puri or poori?
Poori is an Indian bread which is deep fried. This Indian deep fried bread puffs up nicely on deep frying. It is usually served for breakfast, lunch, snacks, or dinner. It is also made for special occasions like marriages, festivals, and religious occasions.
Spinach is fabulously rich in nutrition. Consumption of spinach regularly protects us from certain types of cancers, promotes bone and brain health, maintains blood pressure and since it is rich in vitamin A it also protects eye health. Apart from this spinach is good for skin and since it is rich in iron, it can be used to treat anemia.
Also check pumpkin poori
Other spinach recipes to try:
- Spinach soup
- Malabar spinach stir fry
- Spinach omelette
- Dal palak
- Oats & spinach pongal
- Open toast with egg, tomato & spinach
Ingredients to make palak puri:
- Flour: Whole wheat flour is used to make this nutritious Indian deep-fried bread.
- Spinach: Always use fresh, long, unbruised spinach leaves in this recipe.
- Spices: Ginger, green chili and cumin powder are the spices used in making this poori recipe.
- Oil: You can use any type of flavorless oil like peanut oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, avocado oil, or canola oil to deep fry pooris.
Step by step instructions to make spinach puri from scratch:
- Boil the chopped spinach, ginger, and green chilies together.
- After boiling, spread it on a strainer for 30 minutes and let all the water get drained.
- After cooling, take the boiled contents from the strainer and add to a mixer/blender and make a thin puree. Do not add water while making puree.
- In a mixing bowl, add whole wheat flour, spinach puree from the mixer, two tablespoon oil, cumin powder and salt and mix to make a soft pliable non-sticky dough.
- Add one tablespoon water only if the dough is extremely hard. Remember that spinach will release water.
- Keep the dough covered with a muslin cloth for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes again, mold the dough and make small marble sized balls.
- Dust the rolling table with little whole wheat flour and flatten the puris with a rolling pin. The width of the round puris should be ideally around two and ½ to three inches in diameter.
- One by one flatten all the balls into small thick puris and keep them ready on a separate plate.
- Heat a wok or kadai and add oil. After oil gets heated, gently add a flattened puri.
- Using a frying spoon or slotted spoon gently press the puri, put some hot oil on top and move in a circular way.
- You will notice that the puri gets puffed and rises. At this point, turn it to the other side and fry till it turns golden brown. Do not keep the puri in oil for more than 2 minutes else it will become brittle.
- Drain it on kitchen towel.
- Continue the deep-frying process for all the other flattened puris.
Notes to remember while making deep fried pooris:
To check if the temperature of oil is perfect for deep frying, just drop a small piece of dough in oil. If the dough rises quickly then the oil is ready for deep frying. If the dough sits at the bottom of the pan or wok, the oil is not yet ready.
I have used Vivatta whole wheat flour chakki atta. You can use any type of whole wheat flour in this healthy and nutritious spinach poori. Whole wheat flour is healthy as it is loaded with vitamins, fiber and proteins which improves health. Anything deep fried may not be considered good for health. But adding spinach to puris makes it nutritious. Just remember that anything in access is not good, so it is perfectly fine to have these deep-fried breads on your cheat days.
What to eat with palak puri?
Eat healthy spinach pooris with potato curry or brown lentil curry (masoor dal). It is easy to attract children to eat these nutritious puris with shrikhand or kheer. You can even pack it in their snack box or lunch box. Also try having palak puri with chutney, it tastes delicious.
Spinach Puri | Palak Puri
Ingredients
- 1 cup Vivatta Chakki Whole Wheat Flour
- 20 long spinach leaves chopped
- ¼ inch piece of ginger peeled and chopped
- 1 green chili chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon water if needed
- 2 tablespoon oil
For frying the puris:
- 1 and ½ cups oil
- To taste salt
Instructions
- Boil the chopped spinach, ginger, and green chilies together.
- After boiling, spread it on a strainer for 30 minutes and let all the water get drained.
- After cooling, take the boiled contents from the strainer and add to a mixer/blender and make a thin puree. Do not add water while making puree.
- In a mixing bowl, add whole wheat flour, spinach puree from the mixer, two tablespoon oil, cumin powder and salt and mix to make a soft pliable non-sticky dough.
- Add one tablespoon water only if the dough is extremely hard. Remember that spinach will release water.
- Keep the dough covered with a muslin cloth for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes again, mold the dough and make small marble sized balls.
- Dust the rolling table with little whole wheat flour and flatten the puris with a rolling pin. The width of the round puris should be ideally around two and ½ to three inches in diameter.
- One by one flatten all the balls into small thick puris and keep them ready on a separate plate.
- Heat a wok or kadai and add oil. After oil gets heated, gently add a flattened puri.
- Using a frying spoon or slotted spoon gently press the puri, put some hot oil on top and move in a circular way.
- You will notice that the puri gets puffed and rises. At this point, turn it to the other side and fry till it turns golden brown. Do not keep the puri in oil for more than 2 minutes else it will become brittle.
- Drain it on kitchen towel.
- Continue the deep-frying process for all the other flattened puris.
Notes
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Note: This post was written on 03rd May 2016 and is republished. The post might contain affiliate links.
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