Kuttu ki puri and aloo is the meal North Indian families sit down to on the main days of the fast. Buckwheat flour has no gluten, so the dough will not stretch the way wheat does. Mashed potato is the answer: it binds the flour and gives a puri that puffs and stays soft.
The potato curry here is the plain, comforting kind made with cumin, green chilli and rock salt. Some families add tomato and some keep it out during the fast, so follow your own custom.
Ingredients
For the puris
- 200g Heera buckwheat flour (1kg), plus extra for dusting
- 1 medium potato (about 120g), boiled, peeled and finely mashed
- Half tsp Heera white rock salt (400g)
- 4 to 6 tbsp water
- Natco pure butter ghee (1kg), 1 tsp for the dough and enough to fry
For the vrat aloo
- 500g potatoes, boiled in their skins and peeled
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp Natco cumin seeds (400g)
- 2 green chillies, slit, and a small piece of ginger, grated
- 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped (optional)
- 1 tsp rock salt and half tsp black pepper
- Chopped coriander and a squeeze of lemon
Method
- Make the dough. Mix the buckwheat flour, salt and mashed potato in a bowl, rub in 1 tsp of ghee, then add water a spoonful at a time until you have a firm, smooth dough. Knead for 2 minutes, cover and rest for 10 minutes, no longer, or it turns sticky.
- Start the curry. Heat 2 tbsp of ghee in a pan, add the cumin and let it crackle, then the chilli and ginger for a few seconds. Add the tomatoes, if using, and cook for 5 minutes until soft.
- Crumble the potatoes into the pan by hand in rough chunks. Add the rock salt, black pepper and 300ml of hot water. Simmer for 10 minutes, crushing a few pieces against the pan to thicken the gravy. Finish with coriander and lemon and keep warm.
- Divide the dough into 12 balls. Roll each one to about 10cm between two sheets of baking paper dusted with buckwheat flour. The dough tears if you lift it directly off the worktop.
- Heat ghee 2 to 3cm deep in a kadai to about 180C. Slide in one puri and press it gently with a slotted spoon so it puffs, then turn and cook for 30 to 40 seconds a side.
- Buckwheat browns quickly and turns a darker colour than wheat puris, which is how it should be. Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot with the aloo.
Cook's notes
If the puris crack at the edges the dough is too dry; work in a few drops of water. If they stick to the paper, dust more generously. Any spare dough makes good flatbreads: pat them out by hand and cook on a tawa with a little ghee, a minute or so each side.
