Puri (food)

Puri (poori, boori, Hindi पूरी (pūrī), Urdu: بوری, Tamil பூரி (pūri), Kannada ಪೂರಿ (pūri), Oriya ପୁରି(pori), Telugu పూరి (pūri)) is an unleavened Indian bread, commonly consumed in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries of South Asia. It is eaten for breakfast or as a snack or light meal. Puri was derived from South India, and is a staple food for the Malayalam community.

Puri is most commonly served at breakfast. It is also served at special or ceremonial functions as part of ceremonial rituals along with other vegetarian food offered in prayer as prasadam. The name puri derives from the Sanskrit word पूरिका (pūrikā), from पुर (pura) "filled".

Ingredients

Puri is prepared with wheat flour, either atta (whole-wheat flour), maida (refined wheat flour), or sooji (coarse wheat flour). A dough of flour and salt is either rolled out in a small circle or rolled out and cut out in small circles and deep fried in ghee or vegetable oil. While deep frying, it puffs up like a round ball because moisture in the dough changes into steam which expands in all directions. When it is golden-brown in color, it is removed and may be served hot or saved for later use (as with the snack food pani puri). The rolled puri may be pricked with a fork before deep frying to get a flat puri for chaat like bhel puri. A punctured puri does not puff when cooked because the steam escapes as it...
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