Pani Puri

Yum Yum Yum! As soon as I think of Pani Puri my mouth starts watering!

Puri is a crisp puffed wafer and Pani means water. Pani Puri is a street food of India in which puffed puri is filled with spicy potato filling dipped in sweet  and tangy tamarind chutney and spicy mint flavored water. It just melts in your mouth! :)

In Mumbai we call Pani Puri whereas, in Delhi it is called Golgappa, Bengali's call it Poochka. But, the concept remains the same :)

Pani Puri is best enjoyed when there is someone filling individual puris and serving right in your bowl. Like a bhaiyaji (that's what a street food vendor is called in Mumbai) would do.

Since it was Saturday yesterday, Shu and I decided to make these crisp, fresh Puris (puffed wafers) at home. :)

With 2 cups of semolina/ rava/ fine sooji and 1/4 cup wheat flour and little more than 3/4 cup of water make a soft dough.

Knead the dough well for 5-7 minutes. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Take a portion of the dough. Roll it into 1/2 inch diameter string. Cut into 1/4 inch pieces. Press each piece in between your palms.

Here is Shu rolling out each pressed dough into 1 1/2 inch thin puris (wafers)

Puris need to be thin.

Deep fry in hot oil so that they puff up soon. toss them on both sides and fry for about a minute or two.

Crisp puris ready to be stored in air tight container.

For Pani: Spicy mint water to dip the puris.

1 cup of fresh mint leaves. Clean and wash the leaves well.

Add 1 tsp. of cumin seeds/jeera, 1 tsp caraway seeds/ajwain, 3-4 green chillies. 1/4 inch ginger, salt, lime juice. Grind with some water to form smooth paste.

Add mint paste to 4 cups of chilled water. Add 1 tbsp rock salt/sanchar, 2 tbsp. dry mango powder/amchur, and lime juice. Taste a spoon full of pani for salt, lime juice, spice. Add more if needed!

Let the water rest and chill in the refrigerator, while the ingredients mix and mature for an hour.

A twist to regular mint water is using grapes and black berries. This is also going to be sweet and tangy and loved by kids.

Blend some grapes and blackberries with pinch of cumin seeds. Add 1 tsp. rock salt and dry mango powder. Strain well and use the berry juice with regular spicy mint water for a creative twist :)

For the potato filling:

2 boiled. pealed, chopped potatoes and 1 cup boiled moong.

Add salt, chat masala, cumin powder, red chilli powder. Mix well.

Potato filling ready!

So we are ready to have yummy, spicy, tangy pani puri. 

Puffed crisp puris, Green mint water, purple berry juice, brown tangy sweet tamarind chutney, spicy potato filling.

Serve puris , pani and potato filling.

Click here of the recipe of date and tamarind sweet chutney.

I like to add sweet and tangy tamarind chutney to the pani.

You could also add berry water for kids instead of regular mint water :)

Flat puri and thin sev for sev puri and dehi batata sev puri.

Gently break the top of the Puri/ puffed wafer, fill 1 tsp. potato filling.

Dip into sweet, tangy, spicy water and pop the puri in your mouth :)

Click here for the recipe of Guava Flavored Pani Puri

Enjoy this Dahi Batata Puri

After having enough pani puri, how could you not end with some masala puri? This reminds me of street food again. At the end we used to ask for a masala puri from the bhaiyaji (pani puri vendor)

Crack the puri, add potato filling, sprinkle some chat masala! :)

Pop it in your mouth!

Have a Chatpati, Fun filled New year!