Palak Puri is an excellent way to eat spinach and potatoes together for breakfast. It is a deep-fried, whole wheat Indian bread perfect for breakfast, or lunch. Enjoy spinach poori while it is hot and puffy with a spicy Indian curry. Â
What is ‘Poori’?
Poori or Puri is the name of deep-fried, puffed up vegan Indian bread. It is usually made with wheat flour dough.
The poori is a traditional Indian bread that is widely popular. It is an integral part of the festive Indian menu.
There are many version of poori recipe and palak (spinach) poori is one of them.
Poori is always on top of my favorite Indian breakfast list.
Can anything else match up to 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? Surely a gratifying and indulging Indian breakfast recipe.
How To Get That Bright Green Color…
The perfect blanching of the spinach gives the poori its bright green color and helps in retaining 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 in the hot water (image 2). Cook for about 40 – 50 seconds until the color of leaves turns bright green. Turn off the heat.
Transfer the leaves immediately to the bowl of ice-cold water ( image 4). This step is to stop the cooking process and retain the green color of the leaves.
After this last step, you can use the blanched spinach leaves for making puree.
My Tried & True Tips To Make Perfect Palak Poori:
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).
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 Suggestions…
Palak Puri compliments most of the Indian curry and main-course dishes. But I love to enjoy it with:
Can I store the spinach poori dough?
Yes, 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.
Can I use frozen spinach?
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 be not as good as the one made with fresh spinach leaves.
Watch Step-By-Step Palak Puri Video:
More Spinach Recipes For You:
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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.Â
- 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.Â
9 comments
yummy
wow! mouthwatering and very very tempting stuffs 🙂
Healthy Pooris
This is my six year old’s favorite.
Can we leave the potato out and just knead the dough with only spinach mixture.
Yea sure. Adding potato is optional 🙂
Very good tips to make green colour poori. thank you!
I am so happy that you find those tips helpful.
Fantastic recipe!