Fry bake/poori with tomato choka (sauce)

This recipe is an adaptation from both Trinidad (where Naz is from) and India (where I am from). The only difference is that Fry-bake from Trinidad requires all purpose flour and pooris from India requires whole-wheat flour. It is easy to make and really great for the entire family to enjoy. I tend to make more pooris than fry-bake mainly because whole-wheat flour is more healthy and filling than refined flour. Anjalie who loves to make and eat any type of roti loves this one and hence this one features at least once a week in our kitchen menu. If Anjalie and her friends are anything to go by, these is sure to be children's favorite. It is crispy and crunchy but soft and deep fried...need I say more?



You will need:
For fry-bake/pooris
Flour - 1 cup (whole-wheat for pooris and all purpose for fry-bake) and a little extra to dust the work surface
baking powder -1/4 tsp
salt to taste
Water enough to make dough
Oil for deep frying

For tomato choka:
1/4 onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic crushed
4 large/ 5 medium sized tomatoes chopped
salt and black pepper to taste
Cilantro/Coriander leaves chopped 1 tbsp
1 tsp of oil

For the fry-bake/pooris, add all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix them in a dough with water to the consistency of bread dough. Cover and leave to raise for 20 mins. You can make the tomato choka in the mean time. When ready, lightly dust a work surface with flour and roll out the dough into a circle 1/4 inches in thickness. Using a cookie cutter/knife cut the rolled dough into toddler's favourite shapes. Heat oil for frying in a pan and when hot (when you drop a small piece of the dough, it should immediately raise to the top), drop the pieces one by one and fry them until they turn golden on both sides.


For tomato choka:
Boil the tomatoes for 2 mins in salted water and dip them in cold water, peel out the skin, crush them and set aside. Heat the oil in a sauce pan and fry onion and garlic until the onion is clear. Add the crushed tomatoes and season to taste, add the coriander leaves and heat for a 30 seconds more. When the choka cools down using a hand blender, blend the choka to make it into a sauce for the toddlers to dip their fry-bake/pooris.

Tip/hint: Taking out the fry-bake just before it turns golden brown can give a softer fry-bake as opposed to more crispy golden-brown ones, I some times add a little crushed garlic and roasted ground cumin to the fry-bake flour before mixing to give it a little flavour. Beware that this will make the bake more crispy and less fluffy. I also some times do not blend the choka to give a different texture to the dip. You can leave the skin on the tomatoes, cook them with the onions and then blend the choka with a hand blender instead.