October 22, 2008

Almond Puri with Fat-free milk halwa - For the books

Almond Puri

Confused as to why all the sudden "fried goodness" from me?
Well, this is an old post and has an update, this recipe "Almond Puri" along with my "Egg Puffs" recipe has been published in the "Ekal INCREDELICIOUS 2008 Recipe Treasures" book.
This whole experience from participating, winning, and to this, could be called my trigger to start writing this blog and showcasing my recipes online. I am pretty happy with both.

Puri is a kind of unleavened bread that is deep fried in oil. It is served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is basically savory, meaning it is made from flour and salt. But this is a dessert variety. I have not tasted sweet puris anywhere else other than those made by my mother. So, this is what says "home" to me.

My enthusiastic post written earlier on is here:
Now it feels like reading a long lost secret letter!

My "Almond Puri" recipe won the second place in the "Ekal Incredelicious 2008" in the dessert category. Yay! my first win in any competition ever! And feels good...
This is my mom's recipe which my brother and I used to love as children. Just a few tweaks here and there, and made it my own.
If you have visited my blog before, you might have noticed that I am normally into healthful cooking, but a few puris in moderation never hurt, right?

I must admit that there were quite a few interesting and delicious plates alongside mine, and were quite innovative. Got an opportunity to learn a lot of new things! A good experience overall :)
I am posting this recipe for the people who tasted it yesterday and wanted to try it at home. Happy cooking!

Almond Puri with Fat-free milk halwa

Ingredients:

For Puri:
Whole wheat pastry flour/Atta – 2 cups
Almond paste – ½ cup (Soak, peel, and grind almonds into a paste)
Nutmeg – ¼ tsp
Salt – 1 pinch
Melted butter – 1 tbsp
Clove – A few to seal the puris
Water – If and as needed (to form a dough like consistency with the above)
Oil – For frying

For Filling:
Rice powder – ¼ cup
Ghee (clarified butter) – 3 tbsp (or just enough to form a paste with the rice powder)

For Syrup:
Sugar – 2 cups
Water – 1 cup
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Saffron – 1 pinch crushed

Accompaniment (optional): Milk halwa (Easy method)
Condensed milk (Fat free is an option) – 1 can
Plain yogurt (Fat free is an option) – 3 tsp
Cardamom – 1 pinch
Ghee (clarified butter) – 1tbsp
Mix all the above in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 2 min, take it out, mix, and microwave again for 2 min. Repeat till the mixture is light brown in color. Serve as accompaniment with the puris.
For detailed recipe check out FAT FREE MICROWAVE THERATIPAAL


Method:

Syrup: Mix sugar and water in a heavy bottomed pan and let it come to a boil. Wait till it reaches one string consistency (235° F–240° F). Add saffron and cardamom and set aside.

Puri: Mix the whole wheat flour, almond paste, salt with the melted butter. Knead till it reaches dough like consistency, if needed add a little water.

Form small balls, and roll out into circles, say 5” in diameter. Brush on the filling paste, fold into a semi circle, again brush on filling and fold such that it forms a triangle.
Seal the layers with a clove in the middle to prevent it from opening. Press down edges very slightly.

Shallow fry them over medium heat in a pan till golden brown.

Dip the puri in sugar syrup and serve them with slivered almond and pistachios along with milk halwa as accompaniment.

This is off to these lovely events:

FIC-Brown by Sunshinemom
JFI – Nov’08 – Festival Treats by Srivalli
Yummy Festival Feast - Diwali by Pallavi
Festive Food: Diwali Celebration by Priti

56 comments:

  1. hmmm this is amazing dish!! I will try to make it , but I am sure i won't without you personally guiding me... heheheh
    Very nice work! Keep it up!
    miss you here..
    good friend
    Rakshita

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  2. Hey this is a very new and diff recipe.never heard or seen before! Very nice

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  3. Looks delicious, I've never had puri before but almond ones sound incredible! Other than frying, can you do anything else with this dough? Perhaps a biscotti-esque route?

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  4. Congrats on the award!!

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  5. i just don't understand where you get such ideas to make these kind of dishes-totally different,delicious,awosome,what not.
    Keep it up. Also halwa is fat-free.
    Ramkumar

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  6. divya,it looks awesome and i love sweets so much thx for giving such a nice one

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  7. The name itself is so inviting and congratulations,It is an achievement.

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  8. excellent1 and Congratulations! These puris definetely deserve the prize. Your mom must have been a great cook for sure!

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  9. Almond puris r tempting me a lot...delicious dish..

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  10. congrats on the winning puri recipe,anudivya:). Anything with almonds I never miss, now i can experiment with it even in a puri .

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  11. We just made donuts last night so I have oil in a pot waiting to be used. I'd love to try these!

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  12. Congrats,I know how we feel proud if we win in a competion,hugs to you!
    Excellent recipes Divya!

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  13. Congrats for winning... to be honest I wanted to stop off sweets for awhile but you are tempting me... wonderful presentation...

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  14. hi, congrats! love the almond puri, banana walnuts scones, rolls and the chikki, all of which I have been drooling at:-)

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  15. I've never had this before. It looks really rich and delicious. Great presentation and photo.

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  16. Congratulation!!

    These look amazing. I have never tasted or heard about Almond Puri. Got to try these out.

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  17. Almond puri is something new to me.. added to my "must try" list..

    Nice to know that your recipe got published.. congratulations! :)

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  18. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Your recipes are so tempting.

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  19. almond puri.. never heard of it.. but the name itself suggests that it is rich and full of flavor. i will try it sometime.. does it taste somewhat similar to chiroti or something?

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  20. i love this .. looks very tempting divya ..

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  21. Wow, that'a great news! Congratulations Divya! So when is the party? Just kidding! almond puri looks so delicious, no wonder it got published.

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  22. That looks decadent, Anu! Beautiful pic too.

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  23. I've not tasted these before but wish I could have a bite (or two) :)

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  24. recipe is so interesting..have to try this sometime..

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  25. Congratulations on having your recipes published!!! Keep going :)

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  26. lovely puries with milk halwa. hats off to yr creative mind and diff posting. its look so yummy.

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  27. hi

    thanks for dropping in..u have a colorful blog and almond puri is so tempting..congrats for winning the competition!!

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  28. Looks very tempting- and congrats on the published recipe:) Way to go!!
    Love that all your recipes look so decadent and are high on flavor but still fat free!

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  29. Congrats Div...Ya I was surprise to see the puri but later I read on and find out the secret ;)...this one is new to me too..looks just delicious and tempting...gud one dear

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  30. wht a feast divya..u rock yaar..plzz if possible book one spoon for me among them..will come soon to have it..

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  31. thanks for coming to my blog, it showed me the way to yours! Wow! I like your recipes, esp the aubergine with peanut coconut! It look so delish, I am tempted to run to the shop and make it.

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  32. That looks simply great..thanks for reposting..congrats!

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  33. thanks for ur comment in my blog...i like ur recipes...and this one is amazing! have never heard of it...should try it sometime :-)

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  34. Looks delicious...no wonder you won in the contest..congrats on that...when you reposted here for some reason today it was not showing up on my reader wonder why...I came over to your blog to check and see how you are doing and found this post....

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  35. almond puri...didnt even dared to do something like that.....

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  36. This looks divine Divya..And congrats!

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  37. Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I love this recipe. It almost reminds me of Mexican Sopaipillas. Same concept. I like your recipe.

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  38. is halwa the same thing or difference than halva? i've made halva before and i love it, but it's made with nuts. milk halwa seems pretty delicious.

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  39. Looks delicious. I'm not at all surprised you won for this recipe, Divya.

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  40. hey first time to ur blog! Luks delicious and very different one!!

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  41. Never tried something like this before. Thks for being in the lunch box event. Have put up the round up

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  42. The almond puris looks simply yummy. Usually I never make these at home thinking that it is difficult. Thanks for the recipe Anu :)

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  43. Simply scrumptious!! Thanks for sending them to me:)

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  44. Badam Puri looks incredilicious Anu..bookmarked it to make for Deepavali

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  45. i never tried this b4.puris look yummy..

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  46. i'm not at all surprised that this is a winning recipe! if this was second place, first place must've been a real doozy! incredible work. :)

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  47. hey Anu this is a great news dear :). I missed to wish you. Sorry dear. Congratulations :). I left my mail id to you in thru foodcandy tv. After that forgot. keep in touch :). whr r u in US. provide me ur mail id. so that I can add you in my fren list.

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  48. I want to try this for diwali.I have one ? Anu,instead of the sugar syrup can we dip the puris in Rabri or something like that?????Thanks

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  49. n33ma - You totally can, it called Paal Puri which means Milk Puri. That is another version of the sweet puri. I tried to do both at once with the milk halwa accompaniment in this recipe. But in short, yes that would be delicious too.

    Bhawana - Glad to have caught up with you!

    Ramya - Thanks so much for the award, I appreciate it.

    Joanna - The Indian version Halwa and halva is all the same. Only this is that it is made with different main ingredients like wheat, milk, flour, nuts etc. And they are named accordingly.

    Teresa - Had the Sopapillas recently, and it has the same cooking method I think. Both are great.

    Mahimaa - To me it tastes like nothing else. They are just divine.

    Thanks to everyone else for your kind comments!

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  50. Thanks Anu,I probably will make it for Diwali :)

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  51. Thanks a lot divya dear for ur wishes...wishing u n ur family happy deepavali too..

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  52. Delicious Puris,Awesome and yes HAPPY DIWALI

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  53. Divya, i saw puri and avoided this recipe as it is deep fried. today i gave in and read it and i'm all tempted now. Looks awesome!! I guess once a while indulgence is okay :-)

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  54. OOH! COngrats on a very well-deserved win Anu! that almond puri looks absolutely delicious! thanks so much for sharing such a lovely and authentic (mom's recipe) secret with us!:)

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  55. I tried it for Deepavali, it was good.

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  56. Anu, this is a very unique dessert! Thks for sharing ur Mom's recipe, plus..CONGRATS on gaining 2nd place for this! Can't wait to try this!

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Thank you for taking the time to comment on this post. I will try to respond to queries as soon as I can. If I miss anything that needs to be addressed... please feel free to ping me again.
Happy cooking/baking or whatever it is you are doing in the kitchen! :)