Paneer Poori

On Saturday I was busy kneading the atta dough and grating paneer to make paneer parathas for dinner and Adi asked her standard question.

Amma what’s for dinner? I proudly replied as “paneer parathas” as I don’t make stuffed parathas that often. The girl thought for a while and challenged me if I can turn them into Paneer poori. What an Idea Sirji? Something that never hit my dumb mind.  I have neither tried this before nor googled about it.  So, decided to just go for it.  Surprisingly they came out pretty decent for the first try and it was a hit with Adi. what more do a mother need than seeing the child’s plate empty?

Here is the recipe  if you are interested and you don’t know about this already.  Honestly I never knew such a dish exists till I googled today out of curiosity so please to ignore all the zest in this post 😉 You know that feeling don’t you? when you figure out something of your own and it turns out to be good 😀 😀

1. Knead the atta. I have tried different ways in the past to make the chapathi soft like kneading with milk, warm water but nothing worked. The trick is to sprinkle water all over, gently spread the water around until the water is absorbed by all parts of flour making small lumps here and there and then knead them together for longer time.  Keep kneading the dough for at least 5 or 10 minutes and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.  I have learned this trick from different people and its working for me.  My chapathi’s are softer than before I mean the texture is not like papad anymore :).  For the records on most of the days our lunch dabba is packed with chapathi and vegetable/greens/pulses for the side.

2. Grate Paneer and add spices as required. I have added a pinch of turmeric powder, chilli powder, cumin seeds and salt. You can as well add finely chopped green chillies, coriander leaves, chat masala or anything of your family’s like. Mix them well and let it sit for few minutes.

3. Take a small ball of dough, roll is to a little bigger than one rupee coin size.

4. Place the stuffing in the middle, close the dough on all sides, make it like a pouch and seal all edges. (the pic below was taken while making paratha’s so please ignore the jumbo size in pic).  Keep the stuffing dry and place the sealed side on top while rolling to avoid the stuffing from peeping out.  Another tip is to generously dip the dough in atta flour so the surface will not be sticky.

5. Roll the dough to poori size and let it rest for few minutes.

6. Now, its time to deep fry the rolled stuffed dough in oil. To my surprise the poori’s puffed up instantly 🙂

Tada Paneer poori is ready.

As Adi wiped off the last traces in her plate I asked for her verdict.  She replied with **shrugging her shoulders**  as  “It was good mommy anyways it was my idea and you just used my idea”.  Will I ever ask for her verdict again?

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