Confessions of a Bake-a-holic!

Or shud I say,Masala Puri without the Puri?

Last month at the Hindu temple here,along with four other friends I cooked for 400 people.Each one was supposed to take up a dish and make it in three hours time,set the buffet table,serve the food and the proceeds went to the temple. It was a different experience handling huge vessels and spoons/spatulas(some which I wasn’t even able to hold).I had made Shahi Dum Aloo(recipe to follow shortly).The Original idea was to make Poori’s to go with the Aloo,but making it for so many was certainly a challenging task.At the last minute we got to know about frying Flour Tortillas instead of making Poori’s.After trying it at home,i realized how perfect they were.On the menu the Tortillas by itself was a hit. A friend of mine had mentioned about using corn tortillas for masala puris.I thought even Flour ones would do good.Making small Puri’s (for all chats) is again a painful job.So to make things easy,I baked these Tortillas until crisp and used them instead of Puri’s

Being here,so far from India I miss eating so many variety of food,especially chats.Who doesn’t like them??? The only way I can relish is by making them at home.Masala Puri is a very popular street food/chat found in Bangalore. Small Puris are crushed,topped with the Masala ie., nothing but a semi gravy made with few spices.The Puri’s which either get crushed or broken( the ones which cannot be used for making Pani Puri )are used to make Masala Puris.For the Tamarind Dates Chutney you can either settle for the store bought ones or make it from scratch(Cook 5-6 roughly chopped dates in Tamarind water.Once done,use a mixer and grind them well,sieve it.Add 2 tbsp of jaggery and allow it to boil until it thickens).

Preparation Time: 20mins
Serving - 4

Ingredients:For the Masala
1 Cup Frozen Peas(boiled and mashed)
1 medium sized Potato (boiled and mashed)
A tsp chilli powder
As per taste,Salt
A pinch,sugar
2 tbsp Tamarind Dates Chutney(recipe above)
1/2 Cup grated Carrot(optional)

Grind to a smooth paste-
an inch cinnamon stick
3 Red and 2 green chillies
4 -5 Mint leaves
1 tbsp coconut(optional)
A tbsp chopped Cilantro
A tsp of each - cumin seeds,coriander seeds,poppy seeds
4 tbsp Dalia (Roasted split pea) - Optional(I prefer without them)
Ginger

For the Puri
4 Flour Tortillas

Garnishing
A tbsp cilantro (chopped)
1/4 cup Onion finely chopped
1/4 cup Tomatoes finely chopped
1/2 Cup thin Sev

Method: Add 2 cups of water and bring the masala paste to a quick boil.Add Chilli powder,salt and sugar.When the raw smell disappears add the peas ,tamarind chutney, mashed potatoes along with enough water to cook.Allow it to boil until it reaches a semi gravy consistency. The Dalia and the Potato will act as a thickening agent. In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F.Place the Tortillas(you may wana cut them into two or four) on a cookie sheet and bake for about 12 mins or until crisp.Remove and cool.Break them into pieces.

Just before serving,place the broken Tortillas in a serving plate,pour a ladle of Masala Mixture enough to cover the Puri’s,sprinkle chopped tomatoes,onions and cilantro.Garnish with sev.

Masala Puri always tastes good when its hot actually piping hot .Instead of Flour you may even try the corn Tortillas.Some dislike the smell of Tortillas,but believe me once they are baked and broken you can hardly make out their taste(this is how I fooled P:-D).Also instead of baking you can just dry toast them in a Tava,it actually takes time but it’s not bad at all.

Verdict: It’s a perfect chat for the evening (especially if you are in 16F like me:-).