Puri (food)

Puri, also poori, is a type of deep-fried bread, made from unleavened whole-wheat flour, originated from the Indian subcontinent.

Puris are most commonly served as breakfast or snacks. It is also served at special or ceremonial functions as part of ceremonial rituals along with other vegetarian food offered in Hindu prayer as prasadam.

Name
The name Puri derives from the Sanskrit word पूरिका (pūrikā), from पुर (pura) "filled". In other South Asian languages it is known as: Urdu: پوری (𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘪), Dogri: पूरी (pūrī) or पूड़ी (pūṛī), Kumaoni: लगड (lagaḍ),    பூரி (poori), పూరి (pūri), Gujarati: પૂરી, পুৰি (puri), পুরি (pūri), पूड़ी (pūṛī), पूड़ी (pūṛī), पूरी (pūrī), ಪೂರಿ  (pūri), പൂരി (pūrī), ပူရီ (pūrī), पूरी (puri), ପୁରି (puri), ਪੂਰੀ (pūṛī), Garhwali: पूरी (pūrī),

Ingredients
Puris are prepared with wheat flour, either atta (whole wheat flour) or sooji (coarse wheat flour). In some recipes, ajwain, cumin seed, spinach, or fenugreek seeds are added to the dough. The dough is either rolled out in a small circle or rolled out and cut out in small circles, then deep fried in ghee or vegetable oil. While deep frying, puris puff up like a round ball because moisture in the dough changes into steam which expands in all directions. When they are golden-brown in color, they are removed and either served hot or saved for later use (as with the snack food pani puri). Rolled puris may be pricked with a fork before deep frying to make flat puris for chaat like bhel puri. A punctured puri does not puff when cooked because the steam escapes as it cooks.

Types and variants
A variant of puri is bhatoora, which is three times the size of a puri and served with chholey (spicy chickpeas). It often constitutes a full meal. (See chole bhature.) Bhatoora is made with yeast and puri is made from unleavened dough.

In the Indian state of Odisha a large-sized puri is made during Bali Yatra which is called thunka puri (ଠୁଙ୍କା ପୁରି).

Another variant, largely popular in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is bedvi. It is a saltier and stiffer version of the regular puri, and is often stuffed with lentils.

Another variant of the puri popular in the eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha is the luchi. In Assam, it is pronounced as lusi. Luchis in Bengal are served with typical side dishes like aloor dum (potato preparation), begun bhaja (fried eggplant) and others

The puris used for panipuri are smaller, and are usually made crisper by the addition of rava/sooji (semolina) to the dough.

Sev puri is an Indian snack offered by street vendors who serve chaat.

Street vendors in Mumbai serve bhel in a throw-away folded leaf with a flat puri to scoop it.

Fast food chains in the Middle East use puri for fried chicken wraps.