The best farsi puri recipe! It’s a crispy, flaky with melt-in-your-mouth textured snack tastes best when served a hot cup of tea.
This traditional Gujarati snack made with rava (semolina), maida (all purpose flour) and ghee (clarified butter). The perfect snack for Diwali festival!
During the Diwali festival, my mom makes many different snacks like this farsi puri, mathiya, cholafali, chivda, chakli, tikha gathiya, and the list will go on. She starts making the snacks 10 days before Diwali. And we enjoy those for 15-20 days. Also, we serve these snacks to the guests who come to meet for new year wishes.
Meaning of farsi puri:
In Gujarati language, farsi means flaky. And this puri has flaky texture hence the name. The flakiness comes from the addition of ghee. This recipe slightly resembles Punjabi mathri in texture, however, they are quite different in taste. This farsi puri has a dominant flavor of black peppercorns.
These puris are full of calories because a good amount of ghee is used and then they are deep fried into oil. But it is ok to indulge during the festive season, after all, we are making these only once a year. I would say two puris per person is enough with a cup of tea as a snack if you can stop yourself eating more.
How to make farsi puri?
1) Take all purpose flour, sooji, salt, shahi jeera and coarsely ground black peppers in a bowl. Mix well.
2) Now add ghee. You can use oil instead but traditionally the ghee is added.
3) Now rub the ghee and flour mixture together using fingertips. Take your time and rub them till everything is incorporated well. or till the mixture becomes crumbly breadcrumbs like. This step is important to make the flaky farsi puri.
4) Now add little water at a time and start kneading the dough. The dough should be stiff and hard. I used only 4 ½ tablespoons of water to knead the dough.
5) Cover the bowl with the plate and let it rest for at least 15 minutes. after resting time, you will notice tiny white bubbles on the dough, that is because of the salt. Knead it once again to incorporate those bubbles.
6) Divide the dough into 13-14 equal portions. Make a smooth ball and flatten it out between your palm.
7) Now work with one flatten disc at a time. Using a rolling pin and rolling board, roll it into 3-inch diameter circle. The puri should be thick. For many puris, you may not be able to get the smooth edges, that is perfectly fine. The dough is stiff and hard, so it is a little tough to get the smooth edges.
8) Now using the knife, prick the surface. So the puri does not puff up while frying. Flip the puri and do the same on the other side. So the bottom line is, you need to prick BOTH sides of the puri.
9) While you are rolling, heat the oil in a pan on medium-low heat for deep frying. While oil is getting hot and ready, roll a few puris and arrange them on the plate.
10) Oil should be just hot. It should not be hot as we do for pakoras or plain pooris. These farsi puri are thick and in order to make it flaky and get it fried from inside, we need to fry them on low-medium heat. Slide 4-5 puris at a time. Do not overcrowd the pan. as you add them they will sink in the bottom and will take some time to float on top.
11) you need to maintain the oil temperature, to do so you can lower or increase the flame intensity as needed during the frying process. The whole frying process for one batch will take about 6-7 minutes. So while frying the one batch, roll rest of the puri simultaneously.
12) Once they are cooked and light pink in color from one side, flip them and fry another side as well.
13) Remove them using a slotted spatula. And keep them on paper towel lined plate. 
Repeat the frying process till all the puris are fried. Let them cool down completely, then store them in an airtight container. It stays good for a month if it lasts that long.
Tips to make the BEST Farsi Puri:
- The flour to ghee ration has to right to get the flaky and perfect texture. So do not reduce the amount of ghee.
- The black peppercorn should be ground coarsely, not powdered.
- The dough has to be hard and stiff.
- If the dough is soft then you will not get the flaky texture. Instead, you will get crispy only texture.
- The rolled puri should be medium thickness (not too thin not too thick).
- Pricking the puri BOTH sides is crucial. It prevents the puri from puffing up while frying. If the puri gets puffed up then you won’t get the flaky texture.
- Fry the puris on medium-low heat and maintain the oil temperature throughout the frying process.
- If fried on medium or high heat then it gets brown and crispy from the outside quickly but stays raw from inside. This results in a chewy texture.
Check out more Diwali snacks
Masala puri // Corn flakes chivda // Aloo bhujia // Namak pare
Farsi Puri Recipe (Gujarati Snack for Diwali)
Ingredients
- 1 cup All purpose flour (Maida)
- 2 tablespoons Sooji (rava or semolina)
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon Shahi jeera (kala jeera or black cumin seeds)
- 1 teaspoon Black peppercorns coarsely ground in mortar and pestle
- 3 tablespoons Ghee (clarified butter) or Oil
- 4 to 5 tablespoons Water
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
Making the dough:
- Take all purpose flour, sooji, salt, shahi jeera and coarsely ground black peppers in a bowl. Mix well.
- Now add ghee. Now rub the ghee and flour mixture together using fingertips till the mixture becomes crumbly breadcrumbs like.
- Add little water at a time and start kneading the dough. The dough should be stiff and hard.
- Cover the bowl with the plate and let it rest for at least 15 minutes.
- after resting time, knead it once again to smooth out.
- Divide the dough into 13 equal portions. Make a smooth ball and flatten it out between your palm.
Making farsi puri recipe:
- Work with one flatten disc at a time and roll it into 3-inch diameter circle.
- Now using the knife, prick the surface both sides.
- While you are rolling, heat the oil in a pan on medium-low heat for deep frying. While oil is getting hot and ready, roll a few puris and arrange them on the plate.
- Oil should be just hot. Slide 4-5 puris at a time. Do not overcrowd the pan. as you add them they will sink in the bottom and will take some time to float on top.
- you need to maintain the oil temperature, to do so you can lower or increase the flame intensity as needed during the frying process.
- The whole frying process for one batch will take about 6-7 minutes. So while frying the one batch, roll rest of the puri simultaneously.
- Once they are cooked and light pink in color from one side, flip them and fry another side as well.
- Remove them using a slotted spatula and keep them on paper towel lined plate.
- Repeat the frying process till all the puris are fried.
- Let them cool down completely, then store them in an airtight container.
Notes
- Flour to ghee ratio has to be right to get the perfect texture, so do not reduce the amount of ghee.
- Fry the puris on medium-low heat and maintain the oil temperature throughout the frying process.
- If fried on medium or high heat then it gets brown and crispy from the outside quickly but stays raw from inside. This results in a chewy texture.
- The black pepper has to coarsely ground, not a fine powder.
I made them today and indeed flaky and yummy.
Glad that you liked
thanks and everything looks nice so quiet sure I will try.
Thank you. Enjoy
lovely mathris
in our home also its like one of the diwali preparations along with sweets.
the flavours change from home to home.
Exactly Meena. every house hold has their own recipe.
Looks wonderful. Your blog is like entering a whole new world of cuisine. Very interesting to me!
Thank you Jennifer
Omg, super crispy mathri, feel like munching some.