Mix all dry ingredients and knead dough using water. The dough should be semi soft. Cover and keep aside atleast for an hour. Knead again and make marble size portions.
Heat oil for frying. Meanwhile heat the roti maker and start pressing the balls to make puris. If you do not have the machine, just roll a big thin rotlo and cut with a small cookie cutter. However, roti maker is highly recommended for better results.
Add one Puri at a time when the oil reaches to the smoking point. Add another Puri only after the previous one has puffed. Keep stirring and fry them till they turn brown. Remove them from oil. Fry the rest of the batches the same way. If oven is available, it is recommended that you bake them for 10 min at 100 c just to burn out access oil and make them crunchier.
Tips: it is important that the machine is moderately hot. I usually set it on lower side of the highest temperature for the best results. It your Puri comes out too thin or deshaped from the machine as shown in pic 1, understand that the machine is too hot. You need to cool it down a bit. And if your Puri comes out very thick, the machine is not hot enough. Both types will not puff well (pic 2).Puris from perfectly hot machine will come out round, moderately thin and evenly pressed as in pic 3.
Tip: Temperature of the oil is equally important. Puris will puff only in the oil at smoking point. You may reduce the heat a bit once the puris are puffed. If your puris are too thin, they will either not puff or will crack in the oil taking in much oil. If your puris are thick, it may not puff partially and leave behind a heavy base which can hurt in the mouth. Perfectly fried puris are evenly light brown all around, fully puffed like a ball, crisp and melting in mouth.
Stir puris continuously to get even colour all around. Not stirring will leave top and bottom dark whereas the middle part will remain light as in the pic below.
If the puris from the machine are coming out thicker than normal, the dough may be too hard. You may add a bit of water in the dough and make it soft. If you realize that the dough is hard only after you've made balls, just cover them with wet cloth. The balls will absorb moisture from the cloth and will get soft enough.
