Palak Puri is a deep-fried, whole wheat Indian bread perfect for breakfast or lunch. Be sure to watch the video!
What is ‘Poori’?
Poori or Puri is the name of deep-fried, traditional Indian bread. It is usually made with wheat flour. There are many versions of the poori recipes like cheese poori, masala poori, or methi poori, and palak puri is one of them.
The bright green color of the palak poori comes from the spinach leaves. It gets the crisp texture from the grated boiled potato in the dough.
It adds vibrant color to the Indian thali meal. Hence, this green poori is widely popular among food lovers.
How To Get Bright Green Color
The perfect blanching of the spinach gives the poori its bright green color and helps in retaining the nutrients of the vegetable.
To blanch the spinach first, clean it and rinse with water to remove dirt particles. Next, place a bowl of ice-cold water next to the stovetop.
Boil water in a saucepan with a teaspoon of salt (image 1). Once the water starts boiling, add the cleaned spinach leaves to the hot water (image 2). Cook for about 40 – 50 seconds until the color of the leaves turns bright green. Turn off the heat.
Transfer the leaves immediately to the bowl of ice-cold water ( image 4). This step stops the cooking process and retains the leaves’ green color.
After this last step, you can use the blanched spinach leaves for making puree.
My Tried & True Tips
Don’t over-cook the spinach – about five minutes is enough. Heat kills the bright green color and most of the spinach nutrients.
Always grate the boiled potatoes instead of mashing to avoid lumps in the puri dough.
Use ajwain (carom seeds) for a nice flavor and aid in digestion.
For a crisp and non-greasy puri, don’t forget to add semolina (sooji/rava).
Binding dough for any poori is an art in itself. It should soft, pliable, non-sticky, and firm to touch. (also read: how to make perfect poori)
Don’t over-fry the pooris on very high heat, or you will lose the green color, and brown spots might appear.
While frying the pooris, gently press them with a spoon to help them puff up nicely.
Serving Suggestion
Can anything else match the feeling of poking a finger into a puffy hot palak puri and then tearing a piece of it to sweep into a Mathura-style aloo ki sabzi or dahi wale aloo? Surely a gratifying and indulging Indian breakfast recipe.
Palak Puri compliments most of the Indian main-course dishes. But my personal favorite is chana masala, along with a bowl of chilled mint raita.
Watch Palak Puri Video
FAQs Related To Palak Puri
You can store the spinach puri dough for a week in the refrigerator. Make sure the storing container is airtight. You can use the same dough to make palak paratha or palak roti.
You can use frozen spinach or readymade spinach puree to make this poori dough. Please follow the packet instructions to defrost the frozen leaves. But in my personal experience, the taste, texture, and color of the poori will not be as good as the one made with fresh spinach leaves.
Yes, this is a vegetarian and vegan palak puri recipe.
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Aloo Palak Puri Recipe
- Deep Frying Pan
Ingredients
Ingredients For Spinach Puree:
- 200 gram (1 bunch) spinach leaves (palak)
- 1 green chilli
- 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
Other Ingredients:
- 2 Cups wheat flour (atta) + more for dusting
- 2 medium-size boiled potato
- 1 teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain)
- 2 tablespoon semolina (rava/sooji)
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil + oil for deep-frying
Instructions
How To Make Spinach Puree:
- Wash the spinach leaves in running water.
- Heat a large pan full of water. Add a pinch of salt. Once water starts boiling, add spinach leaves. Cook exactly for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Drain in a colander and let them cool down before grinding to smooth paste.
- In a mixer, puree blanched spinach leaves, ginger and green chili to a smooth paste. Transfer to a bowl and keep aside.
How To Make Palak Puri Dough:
- In a wide mixing bowl combine flour, grated potato, carom seeds, salt, oil, and spinach puree. Mix them well together to form a stiff dough. Use little lukewarm water (if required) to knead the dough. Make sure dough should be firm in texture yet pliable.
- Keep covered in the fridge until required.
How To Make Palak Puri:
- Divide the dough into small balls of equal size. Roll each portion into a round using a rolling pin.
- Now heat oil in a deep frying pan over medium-high flame.
- Add a pinch of dough in the hot oil. If the dough floats to the top, oil is ready else heat it for a little longer.
- Slide one poori from the side into the hot oil and gently press it with the slotted spoon. Once spinach poori puffs up, flip it gently.
- Using a slotted spoon, drain the puri from the oil. Transfer hot poori to a plate lined with an oil absorbent sheet.
- Similarly, prepare rest of the poori as well.
- Serve palak puri warm with aloo ki sabzi and raita.
Recipe Notes:
- Don’t over blanch the spinach – about five minutes is enough. Heat kills the bright green color and most of the spinach nutrients.
- Always, grate the boiled potatoes instead of mashing to avoid any lumps in the puri dough.
- Use ajwain (carom seeds) for a nice flavor and they aid in digestion as well.
- For a crisp and non-greasy puri, don’t forget to add semolina (sooji/rava).
- Poori dough should be soft, pliable, non-sticky, and firm to touch.
- You can store the dough for a week in the refrigerator.
- Don’t over-fry the pooris on very high heat or you will lose the green color and brown spots might appear. While frying the pooris, gently press them with a spoon to help them puff up nicely.
- You can use vegetable oil or any flavorless cooking oil to fry the poori.
aliasgarmukhtiar mukhtiar says
yummy
jahid says
wow! mouthwatering and very very tempting stuffs 🙂
tinku shaji says
Healthy Pooris
Shiju Sugunan says
This is my six year old’s favorite.
Sunita says
Can we leave the potato out and just knead the dough with only spinach mixture.
Hina Gujral says
Yea sure. Adding potato is optional 🙂
Shubhi says
Very good tips to make green colour poori. thank you!
Hina Gujral says
I am so happy that you find those tips helpful.
Shruthi says
Fantastic recipe!