What sides pair best with poori? Potato masala is a classic dish to serve with poori. However, meatier options include butter chicken, chicken vindaloo, and rogan josh lamb curry. Try roasted cauliflower tikka masala, veg kurma, chickpea curry, and masala dal if you prefer vegetarian options.
Poori is a deep-fried Indian bread that looks like golden puffed-up balls. You can serve poori with masala, curry, vegetarian sides, or your favorite pickle. Here are our best side dishes for poori.
Potato Masala
Potato masala, also known as spiced potatoes, is the go-to side dish for poori.
Our recipe calls for fork-tender yellow potatoes, sautéed onions, fresh chilies, and a blend of curry leaves and earthy spices.
You can stuff the poori with the potato masala or enjoy the potatoes alongside the deep-fried bread.
Butter Chicken
Tender and juicy butter chicken is a mild curry that deems to be a favorite among families with kids or sensitive palates.
Butter chicken curry is ridiculously straightforward to prepare and works exceptionally well with poori.
We prefer using boneless and skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch-thick pieces.
Allow the chicken to marinate for at least 30 minutes in a spiced yogurt marinade, using plain yogurt, fresh garlic and ginger, and mild Indian spices.
Then, sear the chicken in a skillet and keep the charred bits in the pan to prepare your sauce.
To make the sauce, add olive oil, ghee, onion, garlic, and mild spices (ginger, coriander, cumin, mild masala) to the same pan you seared the chicken in.
Then, add crushed tomatoes, heavy cream, sugar, and fenugreek leaves to the sauce.
Add the chicken (with juices) back into the pan and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
Chicken Vindaloo
A vindaloo chicken curry is substantially spicier than its buttery counterpart. Consider pairing poori with this tongue-searing curry dish.
Heat a heavy skillet pan and roast peppercorns, cloves and cumin, mustard, and cardamom seeds until they give off a delicious aroma. Now, blitz the toasted seeds in a food processor to create a powder.
Add chili flakes, turmeric, sugar, ginger paste, garlic paste, tomato puree, and garam masala, and blitz again to create a thick, spicy paste. Marinade the chicken in the paste with vinegar for 45 minutes.
Cook the chicken with sliced onions until the chicken is cooked and the sauce thickens. Add a sprinkling of dark brown sugar to tickle your tastebuds.
Rogan Josh
Rogan josh is a rich and spicy Indian lamb curry that you can serve with crispy, golden poori.
We use Kashmiri red chilies, whole spices, and fresh spices that add layers of flavor to the lamb curry.
Start by marinating the lamb in plain yogurt to tenderize the meat.
Fry bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and peppercorns until slightly darker in a deep pan. Next, add onions, ginger, garlic paste, chilis, coriander, cumin, turmeric, and garam masala.
Add the meat, beef stock, water, and salt and simmer until reduced. Lastly, whisk in cream and garnish with coriander leaves.
Roasted Cauliflower Tikka Masala
Roasted cauliflower tikka masala is savory and mildly spiced curry packed with flavors that your guests will love! This vegetarian side works well with poori.
Start by roasting cauliflower florets in olive oil and spices until golden brown.
While the cauliflower is in the oven, prepare a tikka masala sauce by frying onions, garlic, and ginger until fragrant. Then add the spices and once the pan dries, add freshly chopped tomatoes and tomato paste.
Allow the sauce to simmer for 5 to 10 minutes before adding the cream and sugar. Then, simmer for another 10 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce.
Finish the curry by adding roasted cauliflower florets and dollops of butter.
Veg Kurma
Veg kurma is a flavorsome and spicy dish with a complexity of Indian flavors that blend well with poori. This dish is another great vegetarian option.
The korma sauce is made with curd, stock, coconut, cream, nuts, spices, seeds, onions, and pre-soaked nuts. We like adding veggies like baby corn, aubergines, zucchini, broccoli, and parsnips to our veg kurma dish.
Pressure cook the veggies in the sauce for 3 whistles or 10 minutes over medium-high heat.
Chickpea Curry
Chole or chickpea curry is a North Indian dish full of whole herbs and spices. You can stuff poori with the chickpea curry or enjoy it as a side dish.
Cook onion and fresh or dried chili in oil until softened to make the paste. Then, blend the fried onion with garlic cloves, ginger, ground cumin and coriander, garam masala, tomato puree, and salt.
Cook the curry paste for 2 minutes over medium-high heat and tip in drained chickpeas and chopped tomatoes. Allow to simmer and reduce for 5 minutes.
Add creamed coconut, chopped coriander, and spinach. Cook until wilted.
Masala Dal
Masala dal is a creamy and spicy dish made from split lentils that you’ll crave on repeat after tasking it, especially when served with crispy poori.
We enjoy the combination of toor dal and chana dal, but you can choose different types of split lentils to change things up.
Soak the split lentils in water for 2 hours. Then cook them in a pressure cooker for three whistles.
Then, sauté cumin seeds, mustard seeds, onions, garlic, ginger, and Serrano pepper until the onions brown. Next, add the chopped tomatoes and cook until they completely break down.
Add all the spices (paprika, turmeric, coriander, black pepper, and cayenne pepper), lentils, and water and mix well. Cook for 10 minutes.
Lastly, stir in the garam masala and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Best Beverages For Poori
Poori is traditionally served during breakfast. So, the top-recommended beverages are milk or lassi.
Milk: A glass of chilled milk is an excellent idea when ordering a spicy curry to accompany poori.
Lassi: Lassi is an authentic Indian beverage made using yogurt, milk, and pulped fruit. Lassi works well with vindaloo and other hot curries.
Consider a pint of beer with a plate of poori of curry. The slightly savory flavor compliments the dish well. However, note that beer might make the sting worse if you’re opting for a really spicy curry!
For wines, we recommend trying a sharp, dry, and acidic wine like Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay. The acidity will help cut through oily curries and refresh your palate.
Best Sauces For Poori
Serve your poori puffs with a delicious tamarind sauce.
Soak tamarind in water for about two hours. Then, mash and remove all the seeds and strain the pulp.
Finely grind mint and water in a mixer. Then, combine the mint, tamarind pulp, roasted cumin powder, rock salt, asafoetida, black pepper, and jaljeera powder.
Make a hole in each puri and fill it with tamarind sauce.