Puri (food)

Puri, also poori, is a type of deep-fried bread, made from unleavened whole-wheat flour, originated from the Indian subcontinent.
Puris are most commonly served as breakfast or snacks. It is also served at special or ceremonial functions as part of ceremonial rituals along with other vegetarian food offered in Hindu prayer as prasadam. When hosting guests it is common in some households to serve puri in place of roti, as a small gesture of formality. Puri is often eaten in place of roti on special holidays.
The name Puri derives from the Sanskrit word पूरिका (pūrikā), from पूर (pūra) "filled". In other South Asian languages it is known as: Urdu: پوری (pūrī), Dogri and Hindi: पूरी (pūrī) or पूड़ी (pūṛī), Kumaoni: लगड (lagaḍ), Tamil: பூரி (poori), Telugu: పూరి (pūri), Gujarati: પૂરી, Assamese: পুৰি (puri), Bengali: পুরি (pūri), Bhojpuri: पूड़ी (pūṛī), Marathi: पूरी (pūrī), Kannada: ಪೂರಿ (pūri), Malayalam: പൂരി (pūrī), Burmese: ပူရီ (pūrī), Nepali: पूरी (puri), Odia: ପୁରି (puri), Punjabi: ਪੂਰੀ (pūṛī), Garhwali: पूरी (pūrī),
Puris are prepared with wheat flour, either atta (whole wheat flour) or sooji (coarse wheat flour). In some recipes, ajwain, cumin seed, spinach, or fenugreek seeds are added to the dough. The dough is either rolled out in a small circle or rolled out and cut out in small circles, then deep fried in ghee or vegetable oil. While deep frying, puris puff up like a round ball because moisture in the dough changes into steam which expands in all directions. They are flipped once in the frying process, and when they are golden-brown in color, they are removed and either served hot or saved for later use (as with the snack food pani puri). Rolled puris may be pricked with a fork before deep frying to make flat puris for chaat like bhel puri. A punctured puri does not puff when cooked because the steam escapes as it cooks. Masala puri adds turmeric, chili powder, coriander and cumin, and hing (asafoetida) to the dough.
Suhari is a variant of puri which is made with wheat flour, ghee and some sugar and also fried in ghee rather than vegetable oils for regular puri. It is often paired with sweet dish Suji Lapsi. Laspi Suhari is a common combo served as a Naivedhya to Hindu Devatas and paired along with Chana Ghugni or Kaumari during Durga Ashtami festival.
Another variant of the puri popular in the eastern part of Indian subcontinent is Luchi (in West Bengal and Odisha) or lusi in Assam, luchui in Bihar and Jharkhand. Luchi is made using refined wheat flour (samidh flour) and is deep fried. It is served with typical side dishes like aloor dum (potato preparation), Chana ghugni, begun bhaja (fried eggplant) and others.
Another variant, largely popular in the Braj culinary tradition of the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is bedmi puri or bedai. It is prepared using stuffing of Urad dal paste and paired with Mathura's Dubki Aloo jhor.
Another variant of puri is "Khameere/Ambliyaan" bread originating from Dogra cuisine of Jammu region. It is a deep fried leavened bread prepared with naturally fermented sour dough called Ambleya Atta in Dogri language.
Bhathoru or Bhaturu is another bread originating from region of Jammu and Northern Himachal made using same dough as Dogri bread Khameere or Ambliyaan but prepared by roasting or baking in clay oven called bhatthi. The same dish was modified by purabiya vendors of Delhi by preparing it like Luchi bread (replacing whole wheat flour with refined wheat flour and deep frying it) which came to be known as bhatoora, which is served with Chana Ghugni/Chole Ghugni (spicy chickpeas). See chole bhature.
Thotru is yet another variant originating from Dogra culinary tradition which is prepared using naturally fermented flour dough and stuffed with vegetable fillings and rolled in toppings of nuts like almonds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds etc. They can be fried or baked.
In the Indian state of Odisha a large-sized puri is made during Bali Yatra which is called thunka puri (Odia: ଠୁଙ୍କା ପୁରି).
The puris used for panipuri are smaller, and are usually made crisper by the addition of rava/sooji (semolina) to the dough.
Sev puri is an Indian snack offered by street vendors who serve chaat.
Street vendors in Mumbai serve bhel in a throw-away folded leaf with a flat puri to scoop it.
Fast food chains in the Middle East use puri for fried chicken wraps.