Prawn Puri Recipe: Prawns on Puri with Homemade Puris

This prawn puri recipe spoons cooked prawns in a quick tomato, chilli, ginger and lemon sauce onto big homemade puris, fried until puffed. So 6 people get roughly 390 calories a plate, and the hour it takes goes mostly on rolling and frying the bread.

Prawn puri, spelled poori or even puree on some takeaway menus, is the curry-house starter of spicy prawns piled on a crisp, puffed bread. But this topping gets its sharpness from 3 tablespoons of lemon juice balanced with sugar, so I find it fresher than the oily restaurant kind.

Oil held at a steady 190°C is what makes a puri puff, because the heat turns the moisture in the dough to steam. Then working a slotted spoon around the disc in those first seconds helps that steam inflate it evenly, rather than leaving it flat and greasy.

Prawn Puri Recipe: Prawns on Puri with Homemade Puris

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Frying Cuisine:British Indian Courses:Starter

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 35 minutesCook time: 25 minutesRest time: minutesTotal time:1 hour Servings:6 servingsCalories:390 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Atta flour, salt, a little oil and warm water make a smooth, firm dough, rolled into six thin 16cm rounds and deep-fried until they balloon. Meanwhile onion, green chilli, garlic and garam masala cook down with fresh tomatoes before the prawns go in for just 2 minutes. And it’s adapted from Great Curries by Si King and Dave Myers.

Ingredients

For the puris

• 200g wholewheat atta flour, plus extra for rolling
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• 4 tsp sunflower oil, plus ¼ tsp
• 150ml water (75ml just-boiled and 75ml cold)
• 1 to 1.5 litres sunflower oil, for deep-frying (enough to come 4cm up your pan)

For the prawns

• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 4 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 medium onion, finely sliced
• 1 long green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 20g fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1½ tsp garam masala
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• ½ tsp flaked sea salt
• 400g cooked peeled prawns, thawed if frozen
• 3 heaped tbsp finely chopped coriander, plus sprigs to garnish
• freshly ground black pepper
• lemon wedges, to serve

Instructions

1. Make the dough: Mix the flour and salt, then rub in the 4 teaspoons of oil with your fingertips until it looks like slightly damp sand. Then add the water a couple of tablespoons at a time, mixing well, until you have a wet, sticky but firm dough.
2. Knead and roll: Knead in the bowl until smooth, then add the last ¼ teaspoon of oil and knead for 30 seconds more, keeping back a pea-sized piece. Then roll 6 balls on a floured surface into even 16cm circles about as thick as a 2p coin, laying them on a floured tray.
3. Prep the topping: Skin and roughly chop the tomatoes, and have every topping ingredient measured out before you start frying. That way the puris stay warm while you finish the prawns.
4. Heat the oil: Pour oil 4cm deep into a large, deep saucepan wider than the puris and no more than a third full, then heat to 190°C. Check it with a thermometer and a scrap of reserved dough, which should rise straight up, and never let it overheat or leave it unattended.
5. Fry the puris: Brush off any excess flour, then lower in a puri with a slotted spoon, keeping it under and working the spoon around until it puffs. Once it’s fully puffed, fry 8 to 10 seconds more, then turn it and fry the other side for 8 to 10 seconds.
6. Drain: Lift each puri onto kitchen paper and keep the oil at 190°C between them, since cooler oil stops them puffing and makes them greasy. Then turn off the heat under the oil and leave it to cool well out of reach.
7. Cook the base: Heat the 4 tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan or wok over a medium-high heat, then stir-fry the onion and chilli for 3 minutes. Then lower the heat slightly, add the ginger and garlic for 2 minutes, and stir in the garam masala and cayenne for 30 seconds.
8. Make the sauce: Add the tomatoes, lemon juice, sugar and salt and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the tomatoes soften into a spicy sauce.
9. Add the prawns: Tip in the prawns with any thawing liquid, season with pepper and stir for 1½ to 2 minutes until just hot. Then take the pan off the heat and stir in the chopped coriander.
10. Serve: Set a puri on each warm plate and don’t worry if they’ve sunk a little, then spoon the prawns into the centre. Finish with coriander sprigs and lemon wedges for squeezing.

FAQs

What is prawn puri?

It’s a curry-house starter of spiced prawns spooned onto a puri, which is a round of wholewheat dough deep-fried until it puffs up. So the bread soaks up the sauce from underneath while the edges stay crisp, and you eat it with a knife and fork.

Is prawn puri spicy?

It has a gentle kick rather than real heat, because the single green chilli is deseeded and there’s only a quarter teaspoon of cayenne. And the lemon juice and sugar keep it bright, so leave the seeds in or double the cayenne if you want it hotter.

What is bhuna prawn on puri?

Bhuna describes a curry whose spices and onions are fried first and cooked down thick, and many curry houses serve prawn puri that way. And this topping is similar, since the spices fry in oil before the tomatoes cook down, though the original never calls it a bhuna.

If you like that style, try this chicken bhuna with three peppers as a main.

Can you use king prawns or chicken?

I’d happily use cooked king prawns, halved if large, although the original uses ordinary cooked peeled prawns and warns that overcooking turns them hard. And small cubes of chicken breast are the suggested alternative, though I’d simmer them for 5 to 6 minutes until no pink remains.

What if I can’t find atta flour?

Use 100g strong white flour mixed with 100g fine wholemeal flour, and cut the water by about 2 tablespoons so the dough isn’t too wet. Then serve them with crisp spring onion pakoras as a shared starter, before a punchy, vinegar-sharp lamb vindaloo as the main.