Pani puri - India's favourite street food
Pani puri is the most common street snack of India and has been my favourite chaat. It consists of a round, hollow puri, fried crisp and filled with a mixture of flavoured (sweet and tangy) water, tamarind chutney, chilli, chaat masala, potato, onion and chickpeas
The stuffing inside the puri are numerous. Boiled potatoes, chickpea with cumin seeds, boiled sprouted green moong are some to name a few. The puris are made from semolina and white flour, I’ll keep the recipe for the puri to be written some other day, but today it’s going to be the flavoured pani and the fillings that go in the puri.
What you'll need
For pani
1. To grind
Mint leaves – 1 cup
Coriander / Cilantro leaves – 1 cup
Green chillies – 3
Ginger – 1 inch
2. To be added later
Black salt – 2 tsp
Salt as per your taste
Pani Puri masala – 2 tbsp
Roasted cumin seed powder – 1 tsp
chaat masala - 1 tsp
For the puri stuffing
Boiled potatoes - 1 large
Boiled chickpeas - 1 cup (or 1 tin of chickpeas)
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Salt as per taste
1 green chilly - Finely sliced
Chaat masala - 1 tsp
Other Ingredients
1 small onion - Finely chopped
1 small tomato - Finely chopped and deseeded
1 cup Indian shev
Finely chopped coriander leaves - handful
Sweet tamarind chutney - 4 tbsp
How to
Blitz all the ingredients for the pani with a cup of water until it is very smooth. Add a cup more of water and strain the mixture using a fine sieve or a muslin cloth. You’ll end up with a deep green coloured water. Add the rest of ingredients mentioned in section 2. To this add the sweet tamarind chutney and mix well. The pani puri water should have a balanced sweet, sour, minty and a spicy taste. Adjust the taste by adding the pani puri masala, chaat masala or the sweet chutney
For the stuffing
In a non stick pan, add a tsp of oil. When it’s heated, add cumins seeds, 1 tsp chopped green chillies, and a tbsp of finely chopped onions. Once it turns translucent, add the boiled chickpeas, salt, finely chopped ginger, some chat masala, a cup of water and allow it to come to a boil. Crush some of the chickpeas around a quarter of the mixture so that the stuffing becomes thick and not wattery. Cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat. Once done, keep it aside and let it cool.
In another bowl, crush the potatoes and mix in some chaat masala and salt.
Assembling the pani puri
Crack the top of the puri with a spoon or your finger. Fill it with a tbsp each of chickpea and potato mash. Top it with a few pieces of onions, tomatoes, shev and pour the prepared pani over this. Place the entire puri in your mouth and give it a bite for the flavours to explode in your mouth!
