Spinach Puri (Palak Puri)
Aug 04, 2020
Whole wheat puris with the goodness of spinach! These deep fried spinach puri pairs well with all sorts of curries or with a side of yogurt and pickle!
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Spinach Puri- basic puri with the goodness of spinach.
These deep fried bread pair well with dishes like chana masala or aloo matar.
So when I shared this aloo rasedar recipe 2 weeks back, I received so many messages and emails asking me to share the recipe of the green puris that were there in the picture.
I finally got around writing down the recipe for these green puris and I am excited to share the recipe with you guys today.
What are these green puris? Well these are made with spinach and hence the green color.
The addition of spinach not only makes them look pretty but also adds nutrition to the puris.
Puri or poori is an Indian deep-fried bread made with whole wheat flour. It is extremely popular in India and you can always expect it to be made for festivals and special occasions.
In my house, puri was made on festivals like Diwali, Raksha Bandhan and also on several weekends when we wanted to eat something special.
Mom also packed it pretty regularly for our lunch boxes. I guess the fact that you can make puris so quickly and also that they stay fresh for a longer period of time made them an ideal option for lunch boxes in school.
Regular puri is just made with atta (whole wheat flour), it has nothing added to it except salt. Some people also add sooji (semolina) but nothing else is really added to it.
However there are a lot of variations of puri and this spinach puri (or palak puri as we would call in hindi) happens to be a popular one.
This Spinach Puri
✔add more nutrition to the regular puri.
✔pairs so well with curries or can be eaten as such as well.
✔makes a great breakfast and also great for packing in lunch boxes.
✔also happens to be vegan!
To make the spinach puri, the spinach is first blanched and then pureed using no water.
That spinach puree is then used to knead the dough (thus the bright green color of the puris) and then rolled into puris and fried.
Simple right? It’s actually pretty simple but here are few things that you should keep in mind to make sure all the spinach puris puff up and are also soft!
Knead a slightly tight dough: the dough for puri should always be little stiff. Not too hard but not too soft either.
Use oil in the dough: this will make sure the dough has enough moisture and the puris eventually puff up while frying.
Rest the dough for around 20 minutes: this relaxes the gluten, making it easier for you to roll the puri.
Don’t use dry flour while rolling the dough: slightly grease (or dip the dough ball in hot oil from the kadai) and then roll the dough. Do not use any dry atta while rolling.
Roll them neither too thick nor too thin: if you roll it too thin, it will become crisp.
Keep all rolled puris covered with a cloth: else the puris will dry out. It’s a good idea to roll 5 to 6 puris and then fry the batch in one go. The puri fries very quickly so it makes sense to roll a batch together.
Fry on high-medium heat: the oil should be really hot. If you fry these puris on low heat, they will absorb oil and will not puff up.
For kneading the dough, I hardly used any water (maybe around a tablespoon) since the spinach puree and the oil was sufficient for kneading the dough.
If you keep these pointers in mind, all the spinach puris will come out well and puff up.
Serving Suggestions
Honestly, sometimes I just eat it as such with a cup of masala chai.
You can always pair these puris with achar (pickle) or yogurt.
For curries, chana masala or aloo rasedar go really well.
Method
1- Bring a pot of water to a light boil. Then add spinach to it. Cook for 2 minutes until the leaves wilt.
2- Then drain the water and transfer the leaves to a large bowl with cold water. Let it remain like that for 2 minutes. This helps in retaining the green color of the spinach.
3- Remove the leaves from the bowl and transfer leaves to a blender along with ginger and green chilies.
4- Puree the contents to a smooth paste without adding any water. Set it aside.
5- Take atta in a bowl, add ajwain and salt and mix.
6- Add the prepared spinach puree to the bowl.
7- Start mixing the spinach puree into the atta using your hands.
8- Also add the oil and continue to mix and knead the dough. You might need 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to knead.
9- Knead to a tight dough. Not very stiff and not too soft either. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and rest for 20 minutes.
10- After the dough has rested, divided the dough into 18 parts (25 to 27 grams each). Meanwhile heat oil in a kadai on medium-high heat to fry the puri.
11- Take one portion of the dough and start rolling it.
12- Roll into a circle of 4 inch diameter. Roll 4 to 5 puris at a time, keep the rolled puris covered with a cloth at all times.
13- You should roll the puri neither too thin nor too thick.
14- Add rolled puri into hot oil. The oil should be quite hot to fry the puris.
15- 5-10 seconds after dropping the puri into the hot oil, start pressing the puri with a spatula. This will make it puff up.
16- Flip and cook the other side too until golden brown spots appear, around 30 seconds or so. Remove on a paper towel. Roll and fry all puris similarly.
Serve these puris with chana masala or with a side of yogurt and pickle.
If you’ve tried this Spinach Puri Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
Spinach Puri
Ingredients
- 225 grams spinach
- 1 inch ginger
- 1/2 green chili
- 2 cups atta 260 grams, whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ajwain carom seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon oil 15 ml, I used avocado oil
- 1-2 tablespoons water as needed
- oil to fry the puri, use canola or vegetable oil
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a light boil. Then add spinach to it. Cook for 2 minutes until the leaves wilt.Then drain the water and transfer the leaves to a large bowl with cold water. Let it remain like that for 2 minutes. This helps in retaining the green color of the spinach.
- Remove the leaves from the bowl and transfer leaves to a blender along with ginger and green chilies.Puree the contents to a smooth paste without adding any water. Set it aside.
- Take atta in a bowl, add ajwain and salt and mix.
- Add the prepared spinach puree to the bowl. Start mixing the spinach puree into the atta using your hands.
- Also add the oil and continue to mix and knead the dough. You might need 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to knead.
- Knead to a tight dough. Not very stiff and not too soft either. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and rest for 20 minutes.
- After the dough has rested, divided the dough into 18 parts (25 to 27 grams each). Meanwhile heat oil in a kadai on medium-high heat to fry the puri.
- Take one portion of the dough and start rolling it.Roll into a circle of 4 inch diameter. Roll 4 to 5 puris at a time, keep the rolled puris covered with a cloth at all times. You should roll the puri neither too thin nor too thick.
- Add rolled puri into hot oil. The oil should be quite hot to fry the puris.5 to 10 seconds after dropping the puri into the hot oil, start pressing the puri with a spatula. This will make it puff up.
- Flip and cook the other side too until golden brown spots appear, around 30 seconds or so. Remove on a paper towel. Roll and fry all puris similarly. Serve these puris with chana masala or with a side of yogurt and pickle.
Notes
- You would need very little water to knead this dough. The spinach puree and oil are almost enough to knead it, I added only 1 tablespoon of water.
- You can add spices like coriander powder, cumin powder if you want to make it masala spinach puri.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I love this recipe
I made the purees and the rasadar alloo last night for my neighbors who love purees. It was a huge success!
awesome!
Thank you so much for this recipe. It was a hit with everyone, including the fussy kid!
yay 🙂
All your recipes are so easy to follow and they taste yummy. Manali I would like to know the recipe you use in the raita shown in the picture with poori and aloo rasedar?
Thanks.
it’s boondi raita, haven’t shared it yet
I like recipes with step by step photos, its very helpful. Palak puri turned out delicious!
glad to know Shivangi!