Fluffy and soft puris are every Indian's favourite part of meals, whether it's a simple breakfast of puri-bhaji or a divine Bengali feast of luchi-aloor dum. From being sold on the streets of India to every home during festivals and celebratory occasions, puri is a part of the Indian culinary habit, a food ritual everyone identifies with. And yet, today you might find many people avoiding puris for two main reasons. First, it's often made with refined flour and second, it is deep fried.
Overcoming all of these problems with puri consumption and yet being able to relish the taste of this traditional, pan-Indian dish might seem like a thing of the past to you, but there are some easy adjustments you can make to the dish to make it healthier. For example, you can replace refined or whole wheat flour with millet flours made of ragi, bajra or others. And you can also air-fry puris instead of deep frying them to cut out all that fat consumption.
And if your worry is still that these steps won't help you get fluffy, perfect puris, then MasterChef India 2015 finalist Neha Deepak Shah has the perfect hacks for you.
Neha Deepak Shah, who has almost 1.6 Million followers on Instagram keeps on releasing exciting and delicious recipes on the internet. Most of her Instagram reels reach millions of people and gain a lot of appreciation because of her different take towards conventional dishes. In her recent viral video which has received more than 32 million views on Instagram and 600 K likes, she teaches how to make puri at home without deep frying it. While this may sound crazy, Neha makes no-fry puris by herself in the Instagram reel using an air fryer.
To make the no-fry puri at home, as suggested by Neha, one needs 1 cup whole wheat flour, ¼ tsp salt,1 ½ tbsp dahi and water as per preference. Now to make the puris Neha proceeds with the following steps.
* The viral Instagram reel begins with Neha telling the people that it is possible to make a puri at home without deep frying it. She then goes on to prepare the dough for the puri by taking some wheat flour and mixing it with ¼ tsp salt. She then adds one and a half tablespoons of dahi along with water to make a stiff dough.
* Further, she tells the audience to let the dough rest for at least half an hour before rolling it into the shape of puris. She covers the dough with a cotton cloth and lets it rest for half an hour.
* After half an hour, Neha rolls the dough into small circular puris, just like everyone does when making normal deep-fried puris at home. The next step is to put these rolled puris into boiling water and cook them properly. After cooking these puris in boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes, one must take them out carefully.
* She then places the boiled puris into the air fryer, which is preheated. The puris have to be cooked inside the air fryer for 5 to 6 minutes. After this time, the puris will be cooked properly and will look like the regular fluffy puris that are prepared at home by deep frying.
Image Credits: Instagram
This viral recipe is all over the internet, and people are loving it t as it is quite doable and practical. Also, this is a much healthier alternative as compared to the deep-fried puris which are extremely high in cholesterol. This innovative recipe is a healthier way of enjoying one's favourite food and still sticking to the diet.