Badam Puri

INGREDIENTS

For the Puris:

• 10 to 15 almonds
• ¼ cups refined flour (maida)
• 2 tablespoons semolina (rawa)
• Milk for kneading
• A pinch of baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 7 to 8 cloves
• 2 tablespoons ghee
• Cooking oil to deep-fry

For the Sugar Syrup:

• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup water
• Some saffron strands
• ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

METHOD

• Soak the almonds in warm water for half an hour. Then peel them.
• In a blender, add the peeled almonds and some water. Grind to a smooth paste.
• In a bowl, add the almond paste, refined flour, semolina, baking powder, salt and sugar.
• Heat some ghee, add it to the almond mixture and mix everything. Knead the dough with milk and let it rest for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a thick-bottomed pan, add all the syrup ingredients.
• Let the sugar dissolve and cook the syrup till you get one-string consistency. This takes around 7 to 8 minutes.
• Turn the heat off and let the syrup cool down.
• Take a small piece of dough and roll it into a thick puri. Grease it with ghee and fold it to form a semicircle. Grease it again and fold it one more time to form a triangle.
• Roll it gently or press it down.
• Put a clove in the middle of the triangular puri through all the layers.
• Make all the puris using the same technique.
• In a kadhai, add cooking oil to deep-fry the puris.
• Once the oil is hot, add the puris one by one.
• Fry on a low to medium flame so all the layers are cooked.
• Add all the puris to the sugar syrup and keep them in the syrup for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Drain the puris and serve cold.