Methi Farsi Puri

I have many blessings in life. One of them is Nilima, my neighborhood friend and an avid cook. We try to walk together once a week and when we do, we discuss pretty much everything under the sun but I have noticed that food-talk generally dominates our conversation. We exchange interesting and mundane cooking related stories. Yesterday she brought me her home-made methi puris and lemon pickle. The puris were crisp, full of fresh methi flavor and a perfect snack to go with chai. I liked it a lot and decided to blog about it. Here is the recipe as she gave it to me. Hope you’ll try it some time.

1 cup wheat/chapati flour
1/4 cup ground flax meal (available in the flour section of grocery store)
2 table spoon oil
1 tea spoon til/sesame seeds
1/2 tea spoon ground Jeera/ground cumin
1/2 tea spoon red chilies
1/2 tea spoon ground black pepper
1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder/haldi
1/2 tea spoon sugar
1/2 tea spoon salt
1 cup chopped methi leaves (can add 1/2 cup more if you want)
2 cups oil for deep frying

1. Mix chapati flour, flax meal, oil and other dry ingredients so that they are well incorporated.
2. Add chopped methi leaves to the flour mix and mix well. Then add about 1/4 cup water to make a firm dough.
3. If the dough is too soft as a result of methi releasing water, just sprinkle some flax meal evenly
on the dough and knead well. Flax meal will absorb the excess moisture.
4. Set the dough aside for 15 minutes.
5. Divide dough into small portions and roll into small circles/puris. You can use a cookie cutter or a small sharp edged katori to get perfectly round puris. Optionally, you can pierce rolled puris lightly with a fork to keep the puris flat when frying.
6. Deep-fry puris in medium hot oil until they are golden brown.

These Puris will stay fresh for at least 5-6 weeks and can be enjoyed with tea or your favorite pickle. Makes about 35-40 small puris.