This is easily in the top five of my family's favorite foods, and I've been meaning to share it with you all for quite a while, so thanks to @Qurator for motivating me with a pizza-themed Hive Top Chef this week.
🍕 PURI PIZZA 🍕
Qurator's: Hive Top Chef! | Pizza
👨🔬🔥 A Family Recipe Born Through Trial & Error 🌶️👨🍳
Back in Cambodia, sometimes my family would go out to eat after we closed our Ital restaurant, especially if it was a busy day and we had sold out, leaving us with nothing to eat. We just didn't have the energy to cook all over again, so we would go to a little Italian restaurant that made a fabulous pizza marinara.
Sometimes the pizzeria would be closed and/or we didn't have enough money to dine out, and the lack of an oven prevented us from making our own pizza marinara at home. It was at this moment I had a realization...
"Puris are a bit like deep-dish style pizza crust!!"
After about 10 different puri pizza experiments, certain ingredients began to outshine others, and a sort of mandatory condiments list was born. If you're familiar with chaat, which are basically handheld Indian-style street snacks, perhaps you could consider this as one, although you won't find anything like this on the streets of India.
🍅 Puri Pizza Ingredients 🔪
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Condiments- tomatoes : 4 medium | Puri Dough- chapati flour : 3 cups |
STEP 1
Combine the flour, salt, and vegetable oil in a large bowl and being breaking the clumps of oil into very fine pieces. After that, add the water bit by bit while mixing until you have a soft but pliable dough.
STEP 2
Wrap the dough with a damp cloth and cover for 15 minutes (refigerate if you want to keep longer than 15 minutes). Uncover and separate the dough into 12 to 16 equally sized balls. Wrap the dough balls with the damp cloth, cover and let rest another 10-15 minutes.
STEP 3
While the dough is resting, squeeze the excess water out of your soy chunks and stir-fry them in a bit of oil until browned, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
STEP 4
Grate the carrots and sprinkle a bit of lime juice on them to prevent browning. Thinly slice the red onions, tomatoes, and coriander, then put all ingredients on a plate and set aside.
STEP 5
Slice the limes into wedges and remove the seeds. Thinly slice the green chilies and place them in a small dish with a squeeze of lime juice and some salt. Set both aside.
STEP 6
Lightly oil your rolling pin and rolling board, then place a dough ball on it. Roll out a puri while remembering the right thickness is more important than shape or size. You want your puri a little thicker than a roti dough, because if fried correctly, it will inflate like a balloon. If too thin it may develop a hole why frying and not properly "poof."
*Note: If you've refrigerated your puri dough balls, allow them to return to room temperature before rolling.
STEP 7
Heat a wok or kadhai with at least two inches of oil, then gently slip your dough into the hot oil. The dough should immediately begin puffing, and while this is happening try to spoon some oil on the top of the puri, as this will aid in faster poofing. Once poofed, flip it and let the other side cook for about 10 seconds until brown spots develop.
Remove the puri from the wok with a slotted spoon and place in a large pot lined with paper towels. Put a lid on the pot, allowing for a small crack to allow steam to escape. This will prevent your puris from drying out and getting crispy while frying the others.
Continue frying the puris one-by-one in the same manner, adjusting the heat of the stove as necessary.
*Note: If you're unsure if the oil is hot enough, drop a small piece of dough in the oil. If it floats immediately and bubbles appear, the oil is hot enough.
😲 Let The Games Begin 🏁
We've learned a big part of the puri pizza fun is playing with your food, designing the perfect handheld edible missile, and then destroying it with your facehole (aka mouth).
There is a method to the madness, and we've all learned that the tomatoes belong on the bottom, just like puri pizza's inferior cousin, the common pizza. The cheese (aka carrots) come next, then the red onions, and then rules no longer apply.
What matters most is that you lay the spread out so that everything is within arm's reach while engaging in puri pizza assembly. Our kiddos pass on the green chilies, but it's so important to remember a sprinkle of sesame seeds, a pinch of coriander, a spoon of soy chunks, a blast of fresh-squeezed lime juice, all topped off with a dash of salt.
I think it's quite easy to see the joy our daughters have creating their own puri pizzas. This is the only family recipe we never put on our restaurant menu, mostly because we felt the average customer just wouldn't understand it. But it is truly in our top 5 favorite foods, and if you make it you'll quickly understand why.
These things are so delicious that it's hard to find a stopping point. Many strong warriors have attempted to climb Mt. Puri Pizza, and many have failed.
The above warrior fell victim to puri pizza excess and suffered the consequences. As you can see, this soldier was unable to leave the battlefield and had to rest where she lied. You've been warned, do not overindulge in puri pizza....
Bless up!!
🙏 THANKS FOR READING 🙏
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