Poori

Poori is small discs of unleavened wheat dough, deep-fried until they puff into a golden, airy ball. It is India's everyday fried bread, and the puff is the entire point — a poori that fries flat has gone wrong somewhere in the process.

What it really is

A stiff dough of wheat flour, water and a little oil is rolled into small, thin discs and slid into hot oil one at a time. The moment a disc hits the oil, steam trapped inside forces it to balloon into a hollow, spherical shape almost instantly — the frying takes only seconds, and the poori is lifted out the moment it stops expanding, before the surface can darken past a light gold.

The dough has no leavening at all. The puff comes entirely from trapped steam meeting hot oil, not from yeast or baking powder — a dough that isn't rolled thin and even, or oil that isn't hot enough, and the poori simply won't balloon.

How it is served

• Hot, straight from the oil, while it is still puffed.
• Alongside a potato curry (aloo poori) or chickpea curry, as a breakfast pairing.
• In a stack, several to a portion, since they deflate and are eaten quickly once served.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the gluten in the wheat dough.
• It is naturally vegan and vegetarian as standard.
• Say which curry it comes with, since poori is rarely served plain and the pairing is part of the dish.