#132 Mom's Paal Poori

Here we are right in the middle of 2011, and while I dig around the web and read about food, medicine and healthy lifestyles it seems that meals are not about staple foods like rice and curry or burgers and fries-- a lot has changed in recent times. In this day and age,  food is being prepared with a purpose in mind whether it be for taste, health or medical conditions everyone is in search of fresh vegetables, fruits and nutritious whole grains.

No matter how hard we try to eat healthy, a temptation or two may slip in once in a while, and we indulge in a fried food or two:)  Most dieticians will roll their eyes at me, but I admit that once in a way we should break good habits and go for something "big, bad and beautiful"  like a T-bone steak or a wholesome double cheese burger?  Why not? If I have been eating healthy all week, don't you think I deserve one meal when I can eat with a vengeance? 

If you were to go all out and indulge in something ridiculously good what would it be? A juicy burger? Fried chicken or Chocolate Cake? For me it has to be a decadent dessert like Chocolate Cake or maybe an oldtime special like Paal Poori.  One reason being that my mother made this dish for me many years ago and it is sure to bring back nostalgic memories of childhood, especially for the fact that I inherited her addiction to sweets. She always added a little edible camphor which  I absolutely love, but no matter how hard I tried to find it this time, I had to omit it in my Paal Poori. "Paal" means milk in some South Indian languages and "Poori" is fried flat bread.  I had searched desperately for Pacha Karpooram going from one South Asian store to another in vain (so I marked it optional in the recipe).  Does anyone know where in the US I can find Pacha Karpooram ?

Ingredients:
Almonds 1/4 cup
Sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 can Rava
2 t.spoons Maida
2 cups Sugar
4 t.spoons Saffron 1/4 t.spoon
1 Tblspn crushed pistachios
Edible camphor (Pacha karpooram) optional
Cooking oil for frying

Directions:
Soak saffron in little cold milk, and keep it aside.Soak rava in little water for 10 minutes.Soak almonds in hot water for 1 hour. Peel skin and grind the almond into a fine paste with 1 cup of milk instead of water. Boil heavy cream, condensed milk, and almond paste for 10-15 minutes.
Add saffron to above and let it cool.
Now, knead maida, soaked rava, and sugar into a nice dough, using some cold water. Roll the dough into cherry sized balls and roll with a rolling pin until evenly thin, small flat breads are formed. Deep
fry the flat breads(pooris) until they puff up and and soak the puries in the boiled milk mixture. Garnish with crushed Pistachios. Serve it cold/hot.