Saturday, 30 June 2007

A Roti called DHAL PURI

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In Guyana, as in Trinidad & Tobago, there are a variety of roti(s) and the other popular roti is called Dhal Puri - a roti dough stuffed with seasoned split peas. And that is the topic of this week's column. The dhal puri can be eaten as is or with curry as it's often done. Like our paratha roti, the dhal puri is held up to a very high standard in terms of one's ability to make it. Click here to read more.

I continue to perfect my dhal puri-making and it's a pleasure to share with you how I make it. Click here for a slide demo. Please do not hesitate to email me and I'll send you the recipe.

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52 comments:

ayseyaman said...

Hi Cynthia,
your food photos are delicious!
Looks very interesting and I would like to try your recipes. It is hard to decide which one to start with.:) All of them look very nice
especially the "coffee Cake".

bee said...

c, this dish originated in uttar pradesh and bihar in northern india. is it one of the most popular street foods in mauritius, along with dhal roti.

it was brought there by immigrant labourers from bihar over 200 years ago. it is still popular in northern india, mainly in home kithens, but very rarely seen outside that region in restaurant or street food menus.

Vini K said...

In South India we have a sweet version of this called Obbattu/Puranpoli.looks great.the pictures are very beautiful.

Padmaja said...

Woh!!
Cynthia!! What an amazing dish, I have bookmarked it and will definitely give it a go!!

evolvingtastes said...

How interesting that although it is called 'puri', it is not fried, but cooked on a skillet like roti (I assume, since there is no recipe). In India, a puri is always deep fried.

Daalpuris are also popular in Bengal and Bangladesh, and there are a few regional varieties even among those. I have tried making the Bangla one, and it was a lot of work but worth it.

Very good step-by-step pictures!

sra said...

Enjoyed seeing the slideshow. I too have heard of dhal puri in connection with Mauritius - a similar dish in South India is Bobbattu/Holige/Poli. I saw some of your other slideshows as well - very nice!

Richa said...

liked the step-by-step pics, dhal puri looks yum! i see you've used all purpose flour for the dough. Usually i use whole wheat flour and sometimes a mix of the two. That is one filling dish :)

Manasi said...

Very NICE!! must try!! The photos are instructive, but I'd want the measures as well.. will mail u!
I was a bit surprised to see this is not a deep fried puri... as we have in India.. but a must try!! Thanx!

indosungod said...

a flaky roti with spicy dhal filling! what more can one ask. The step by step gave me a fairly good idea of how it is made. The sour Chicken Curry made my mouth water. Do you use Maida for the rotis?

Suganya said...

This is so not fair.. Teasing me while I am really hungry :( Beautiful recipe and slideshow :) One question though, is the dough made with All purpose flour or whole wheat flour?

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

That roti looks very interesting and appetizing! It makes me hungry to look at your pictures...

Cynthia said...

Ayseyaman - a hearty welcome to you! I've just returned from visiting your place and I'm really looking forward to enjoying some Turkish food.

The recipe for the coffee cake is linked in the post.

If there's anything you see on the blog and a recipe is not there or you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Bee honey - a lot of the immigrants to the Caribbean came from Uttar Pradesh! I love learning more of these things and where some of our foods came from.

It is a very very popular roti in these parts. It is made widely in homes and in roti shops.

Vini - yeah, I discovered that the other day when I visited a blog and was surprised that it was sweet, very interesting.

Padmaja - thank you! I'll send you the recipe.

Evolving Tastes - It is cooked on a tawah. I'll send you the recipe.

Can you tell me a little more about the varieties?

Sra - thanks hon.

Richa - thanks! We use mostly all-purpose flour when making roti in these parts.

Manasi - thank you! I'll send the recipe as soon as I get your email address.

Indo - yeah, I used maida. I'll send you the recipe.

Suganya - (lol). It is made with all-purpose flour. I will send you the recipe.

Rosa - thank you! Why not give it a try?

Kelly Mahoney said...

I'm so excited by this post. It's a food type that's different to me, but it looks delicious.

Susan said...

Cynthia, they look like dumplings right before the final rolling. Delightful. Another great bread demo. I gave up execution photos a while back - too much work; I needed a second set of hands. : }

TheCooker said...

An unfried puri! Looks similar to the one I had in Bihar/Jharkhand which was made with a flour called 'sattu'; some version of channa daal.
Very tasty and extremely nutritious.
Love the photos.

Vcuisine said...

Nice post Cynthia. Its really tempting. Read your column. As usual infomative. Appreciate if you could share the recipe. Thanks. Viji

Foodie said...

Hi Cynthia,

Loved your daal puri. The guyenese food is highly influenced by the indian immigrants long back. I see your comments on Trupti's blog "thespicewholovedme" but this time I stumbled upon through the foodblogdesam blog. The pictures are really good.

Jyothsna said...

Informative and tempting post Cynthia!

Lisa said...

I LOVE dhal puri rotis! I used to eat those in Grenada. I wonder if I might work up my nerve to try making some . . . very daunting. That photo you put up just has my mouth watering; I can almost taste the roti!

cheesewithaspoon said...

Cynthia, this looks so delicious! I see several readers already made the comparison to the Indian "poli" -- among the Indians in Malaysia, at least, we have both a sweet and a savoury version of poli, and this looks very much like the savoury poli. My paternal grandmother used to specialise in the sweet poli, but seeing your recipe and your pictures, I'm tempted to try this savoury one.

Lucy said...

Flaky, beautiful and...I want it right now. Really wonderful instructions Cynthia. Have bookmarked it for a weekend effort.

Mishmash ! said...

We re discovering the similarities in each and every post right :)your chicken curry looks so tasty and looks exactly like our kinda preparation...and you re not just a roti expert but a dhal puri expert too :)

Shn

Kajal said...

What a miraculous dish...Great photo....nice recipe puri without oil.....something different.....thanks for sharing such a nice recipe. Have a nice day.:)

Nicola said...

Cynthia you've done it again, your pictures make me crave foods i thought i had forgotten, Dhal puri and Duck curry would have to be a favourite in my family, my mum is an expert puri maker, she fills it well with the dry processed mixture and i dont know how she does it but the entire puri is filled to the edges, and yes like you i like to break my puri and shake the filling into my curry sauce, Oh how i am craving that meal now. I haven tried to cook dhal puri on about 3 occassions and i failed eact time, my first attemt was an awful lumpy sada roti filled with a flavourless pastey dhal mix. i'll have to try your recipe since my mum wont part with her secret.

MeltingWok said...

ooo, your dhal puri sounds really deliciousssssss !! :) Reminds me so much of the Malaysian "murtabak", which is a folded roti dough stuffed with curried lamb/beef, onions and green peas.

Shaun said...

Cynthia - I read your post, and now I am even more afraid to make the roti. This sounds delicious, but I think that I should leave it to the professionals as I always seem to have trouble making anything that is remotely bread like. Last week was case in point, a dough that never amount to anything because it kept sticking to my fingers. Next time I will keep one hand "clean" to keep adding flour. Wish me luck!

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Like Shaun, I'm even more scared of making them now! It looks and sound delicious though Cynthia.

Dumela said...

wow, this looks soooo yummy, and is sooo punjabi, its made in my house, its called dal peethi ki poori and is fried...am so surprised its made in guyana!! wow amazing... bookmarked to try this version

Linda said...

Hi Cynthia, I came in from your comments at IndoSunGod's blog -- don't know how I have missed you here! Those rotis look melt-in-your-mouth soft and delicious :)

Manasi said...
This post has been removed by the author.
Manasi said...

Hi!! I tried the Dhal Puri!!!!!!!! But I do have a query.... now whereas ur Dhal puri looks so soft and melt in the mouth... mine was not... infact it did not puff up on the tawa (cud it be coz after stuffing I did not let it rest for 30 mins.?) :(( .... THe taste was too good... but i want it to look like ur dhal puri :((
And can u also suggest a vegetarian curry to go with this?

Cynthia said...

Kelly - thank you. So, you gonna try it? Let me know so that I can send you the recipe.

Susan - I understand. They are a lot of work :) I usually have to plan for them way in advance.

The Cooker - I wonder what the texture is like with those different flours...

viji - You are very welcome. Recipe is on the way.

Foodie - welcome! and thank you. Hope to see you around again.

Jyothsna - thank you!

Lisa - please work up the nerve and thank you!

Cheese with a spoon - please do and can you send me the recipe for the sweet one?

Lucy - thanks. Please let me know how it turns out.

Shn - you make me blush! go on! (lol)

Kajal - Thank you. You are welcome and have a good day too!

Nicola - oh gosh girl! You know de ting: dhal puri and duck curry! I'm heading to Guyana before the end of summer and I'll be sure to call your name as I am eating it (lol)

Melting Wok - please tell me more about the murtabak.

Shaun :( It takes practice I agree if I'm reading you correct, your challenge is kneading dough? Check out this link and see if it helps. http://www.slide.com/r/KtSeHDek0z-VWsA2YTL9DbGUild64vog?previous_view=lt_embedded_url
And, I do wish you luck!

Amanda - Aw come on, try it. :)

Dumela - thanks. The Caribbean is partly made up of Indian immigrants from the sub-continent.

Linda - a very warm welcome and thank you! I hope to see you around again.

Manasi - so glad you tried it. What flour did you use? I used the regular all-purpose white flour.

While I am not sure about the actual science, I know that resting does help with the texture when cooking and the cooked product.

In terms of curry, the most popular veg curry to have with dhal puri is an aloo/channa curry or aloo curry by itself or channa curry by itself. Very similar to chaat.

Also, you put 3/4 tsp to 1 cup of flour yeah?

Sylvia said...

This dish looks delicius,and the photos are great ,actually to learn better the step by step fhotos is a guide.

The Cooking Ninja said...

ooohhh...it looks like that Indian dish with a wrapper and potato in it. I can't remember what it is called. I used to eat it very often when I was home in Singapore.

Sue said...

I loved your slide show. That looks good enough to eat!

christine (myplateoryours) said...

This sounds so delicious, Cynthia. What is the "slather of sour" you mention in the column??

JennDZ - The Leftover Queen said...

Yum, Cynthia! Your pictures make me drool!

Nora B. said...

Cynthia, this looks and sounds very interesting. I've had puri before but not a dhal version.

The Culinary Chase said...

Beautiful Cynthia! Can you Fedex to my place? Cheers!

Carolyn said...

Haven't had breakfast yet, and with your amazing photos, and yummy looking food, I could reach right onto that plate, & eat it all! LOL. Your recipes are expanding my food possibility horizons. Thanks much for sharing these. And you totally made my evening with your wonderful comments on my blog! Always great to hear from you. Have a great day! :-)

Chennette said...

Hi Cynthia - I like the bit in your column about eating dhalpuri for a whole school year! For a long time when my brother was small, Mom always had to have dhalpuri in the freezer, because all my brother would eat is "yellow roti" and curry mango. Apart from eating it with curry,
I love dhalpuri toasted with eggs (breakfast or brunch dish), or just like that hot off the tawah. Funny how Trinis don't do the dhalpuri and sour or chutney.
And I haven't even come close to mastering this myself yet!

Sukanya Ramkumar said...

Hey this is a excellent dish..... Nice photo...Waiting to try this out...

USHA said...

Hi Dear,

Wonderful recipe...more over i liked your step-bystep slide demo...which clearly explains everything very easily...

Healthy puri with dhal....so how r u?How is work going on?

USHA said...

Hi Cynthia,

Just got from Sig's blog....your b'day was on 27th...Belated wishes...

Cynthia said...

Sylvia & Usha - thank you.

Pamela - :)

Jenn - So drool honey :)

Nora - So, you gonna try it?

Culinary Chase - so good to see you! And sure, I'll FEDEX it.

Carolyn - You are very welcome my friend. I enjoy reading your blog very much.

Chennette - yellow roti, that's a new one:)

Girl, the thing is that we had so many options in the canteen and at times we deliberately set out to order something different but we'd arrive at the canteen and the cumin, garlic, pepper and sour would be hollering our names (lol)

Each time I make dhal puri, I learn something more about it and tweak it to suit myself.

evolvingtastes said...

Cynthia said:"Evolving Tastes - It is cooked on a tawah. I'll send you the recipe.

Can you tell me a little more about the varieties?"

Cynthia, the variations are based on whether the pooris are made large or small, soft or crisp, and differences in the fillings, like urad dal or moong dal and maybe some based on chana dal too.

valentinA said...

Hi Cynthia, thanks for visitng my blog, yours is amazing & I love the photos!
It's one of the most popular in my country- Mauritius! We eat it with curry or a sort of thick tomato sauce. I loooooove it=)

Caffienated Cowgirl said...

Okay, that looks great! Am going to add it to my list of items to make!

Sandeepa said...

I love Dhal Puri.....ahhhhhh how I miss it now

Cynthia said...

Evolving tastes - thanks for the info.

Valentina - you are welcome and thank you so very much for stopping by. Hope to see you again.

Caff. Cowgirl - good :)

Sandeepa - well, make some :)

Sharmi said...

that is a beautiful demo. loved the look of that roti. yummy yum!

M&Ms... said...

ooh! I tasted this on my visit to Mauritius this year. Was so simple and fantastic. One of the best meals we had and sooo inexpensive..we had the car driver stop at his local joint for a quick taste and we could not stop eating! Would love the recipe..will mail...

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