Tomato Poori

Tomato is a mini fable which teaches us the marvellous qualities of assimilating, supplementing and complimenting, vital to a social being. It is one healthy vegetable which imparts its color and flavor to every dish it touches, humble enough to readily mingle and jingle with any companions. It's presence in most of the Indian (spicy) dishes is a must. It is one of the two key vegetables without which North Indian sabji making would be not the same.
When RP announced, tomato as the ingredient for this month's jihva, I thought of making something with rice, which is my staple food as a South Indian. But again it occurred to me that there would be at least a few delicious entries in the form of tomato rice and bhaths. So, my focus shifted to wheat. I thought when parathas can be prepared with every vegetable you can think of , why not with tomatoes? Somehow the idea of tomato parathas did not remain so appealing when really the time came to prepare them. So, I opted for pooris. For my tomato ketchup loving and tomato hating kids, I always add this lycopene rich vegetable pureed in most of the dals. This method seemed perfect for the tomato pooris.
I tried them yesterday for our lunch and they were like as they should be. Soft, all puffed up, with a slight hint of the red fruit's flavor. My SIL's spicy eggplant chutney was the perfect accompaniment for the pooris instead of my curry. My kids asked for more and did not even care that they were made out of tomatoes. That was a sure sign of success.

Ingredients:
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Big Tomato - 1
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Sesame seeds - 2 tsp
Red chillie powder - 1 tsp
Oil for frying

Chop tomato into four quarters. Remove the seeds from each quarter and puree them in a blender with chillie powder.
Mix wheat flour, salt and sesame seeds in a big bowl. Pour the oil and just rub in the mixture.
Now add the tomato puree and form a soft dough. If the dough appears too soft, add some more flour to get the right consistency. It should not be very hard or sticky. Note that no water is required to form the dough.
Knead the dough for a couple of minutes, cover it and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. I always follow this trick learnt from my mom, though she kneads the dough for 10 minutes, when making rotis.
Make equal sized, small balls out of the dough. Then roll out into thin, small circles of approximately 3 - 4 inches. You can roll them in batches and fry. Or roll out the circles and cover them so that they wont get dry and result in not so fluffy pooris.
Mean while, heat the oil in a Karhai / small sized wok on medium flame, until very hot. The temperature of the oil is perfect to make pooris, if a pinch of the dough added to the oil, sizzles and comes to the surface immediately. If the dough stays at the bottom, then the oil is not hot enough. If it browns, the oil is too hot.
When the oil is hot enough, fry each circle till both sides puff up and turn golden brown. Drain on a kitchen towel.
Serve them hot with a curry.

Tomato poori - My entry to Jihva for tomatoes.

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