To me, a trip to India isincomplete without Pani Puri, Pav Bhaji,and Paan.
Every time I visited IndiaI ate my heart out – especially from the stalls, the roadside food, the chaat. LOVEEEEEE it.I don’t think there is any single person who does not like pani puri. Please tell me if there is, I would like themto come see me. I am serious.
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| Pani Puri Recipe - Gol Gappe Indian Chaat |
For those who do not know what pani puri is(and are missingsomething big): Pani Puri is a snackwith puffed crispy hollow fried balls made from a combination of either wheatflour, all-purpose flour, and/or semolina flour. The puffedballs (puri) are stuffed with a variety of vegetable/lentil/sprout mixture,dipped into a spicy-tangy minty water(pani) and popped into the mouth.
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| How to prepare Pani Puri |
PaniPuri is known by severalnames around India, the ones I know are gol gappa (plural: gol gappe), puchka,and gup chup. Puchka is my favorite! Do not confuse this “puri” with the “kadhai ki puri”– this puri is small and crunchy that breaks into pieces, whereas the kadhai ki puri is big and soft andtears into pieces.
In the photos you see: I have used theready-made packet of puri, store-bought pani masala box mixed with water, home-made stuffing, and assembled it all together. But in this post, I am sharing with you both homemade and readymade methods.
Whatyou Need to Make Pani Puri
1.Pani
A.Homemade
Recipe for makingMasala Pani (for Pani Puri):
1 cup cilantro (leaves + stems) 1 cup mint leaves (only leaves not thick stems) 3-4 green chilies (spice level your choice) 1 tsp ginger 1 tsp roasted cumin powder (jeera powder) 1 tsp lemon juice Salt, black salt, sugar or jaggery, and chaat masala to taste Remember that there will be some salt in the crispy puri as well as the filling – so start with very little salt. More salt can always be mixed in later. | Combine all ingredients in a blender along with ¼ cup water and grind it into a fine paste. Empty paste into a medium bowl, add about ½ liter water, mix. Taste to adjust the spice, salt, and tangy levels according to your taste. Flavors develop better if you use the Masala Pani after a while, an hour for instance. Some people prefer their water a little sweet whereas some don’t – so you can make this basic masala pani, and add a little tamarind-date chutney into the puri before dunking the puri into this spicy and tangy pani for the ones who like sweet pani puri like I do. |
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| Spicy Tangy Minty Masala Pani for Pani Puri |
B.Readymade
PaniPuri Masala is availablein Indian stores in a pouch that may come along with the box of crispy puffedpuri, or a Pani Puri Masala box thatcan be used over a period of time.Follow instructions on the packet or box, add mint leaves, greenchilies, lemon juice, and adjust spices according to your taste. Keep tasting the water until you are happywith it.
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| Yummy Indian Chaat: Pani Puri |
2.Puri
A.Homemade
Recipe for makingPuri (for Pani Puri):
1 cup fine rawa/sooji (semolina) ¼ tsp salt Water as required to knead dough Oil sufficient for deep frying | In a medium bowl: combine semolina + salt, make a semi-stiff dough using required water. Knead well for 2-3 minutes to make the dough smooth, keep covered with moist cloth for 15-20 minutes. Make small cherry size portions from the dough and apply some oil over them. Roll them out into round thin uniform puris about 2 inch diameter, keeping them covered with a muslin cloth as you roll more to prevent from drying. Meanwhile, heat oil on medium heat in a wide pan. Drop each rolled puri carefully into the hot oil, lightly pressing them with a perforated spoon for the puri to puff up while frying, and deep fry on medium flame on both sides until light brown and crisp. Drain on absorbent paper, let cool completely before storing in airtight container. |
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| Gol gappe - Puchka - Pani Puri - Gup Chup [note: these are readymade puris] |
B.Readymade
Puffedcrispy puri boxes orpackets are available in Indian stores.You can save yourself a LOT of effort and buy the readymade puri. I just buy to save time.
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| Dripping tamarind chutney for a sweet pani puri |
3.Filling
Fillings are either with boiled potatoor pressure cooked chickpeas, or a potato-chickpea-onion mixture, or withsome sprouted lentils/beans, or with boondi, or with pressure cooked batana (dried peas), or pressure cooked kala chana – or a combination of either ofthese.
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| Boiled potato, pressure cooked chana, onion filling for pani puri |
I prefer the potato-chickpea-onion mixture for pani poori:
1 medium boiled potato, mashed
1 cup pressure cooked chickpeas, mashed
½ cup finely chopped onion
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cumin powder
¼ tsp red chili powder
¼ tsp chaat masala
Mix the mashed potato, mashed chickpeas,and finely chopped onions well with the spices and salt. The amount of potato-chickpea filling above servesabout 4 people, considering they eat about 6 pani puri each, and with about ½to 1 Tbsp of this mixture stuffed in thepuri.
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| Mash potato and chickpeas for pani puri |
The 1 cup pressure cooked chickpeas means½ cup of raw chickpeas soaked in water for 6-8 hours, which double in size to 1cup by then, and further pressure cooked in 1½ cup water for 20 minutes onmedium heat or for two whistles until tender.
How to eat Pani Puri?
Crack one side of the puriwith your thumb without breaking the puri into two and without creating a holeon the other side of the puri. Grab somefilling mixture and stuff it in. I like sweet paani puri so I drip a little thin tamarind-date chutney over the filling.Dunk the puri into spicy pani or pour the spicy pani into the puri.And pop it in your mouth RIGHT AWAY!Any longer than 5 seconds will cause the crispy puri to become soggy andbreak into pieces. And that is no fununless it is happening inside the mouth.
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| Pani Puri Mouthwatering Indian Chaat |
As you sense the crunchinessfrom the crisp puri, chew the tender boiled and mashed filling mixture, taste ahint of sweetness from the tamarind chutney, and gulp the spicy-tangy water downyour throat – it is an explosion of flavors and tastes you can never imagineuntil you put that luscious pani puri into your mouth.
Enjoy.
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