Masala Puri

The most awaited summer holidays have arrived at last :). Free from all the exams, projects, home-works, no more calls from my mom ‘late aayithu YeLe horduu’ - the toughest getting up early in the morning, didn’t even bother to think about the school even once during holidays. I enjoyed the summer holidays the most as the duration would be long and the weather also was gr8 for outings. All our cousins used to meet up at 1 of our uncle’s place where we used to sit and play antakshari, dumb charads, hide&seek, card games etc and of course the post dinner chit chat in the courtyard on the musical swing (there was only 1swing and all of us wanted to sit on that so turn wise we got a chance something similar to a musical chair so the name goes) was the best. Super!! It used to be so funtastic pulling each other legs and proving our smartness by shooting some latest movie dialogues or some advertisement lines :).

Invariably we used to have a feast during our stay at their place. Our all time favorite adda was bandi masala puri. Ofcourse there were many more joints that we liked for their mouthwatering masala dose, akki rotti, bajjis, Gobi manchurian etc, but nothing could beat our old and famous bandi masala puri.

As a youngster with hardly any cooking experience didn’t know much about the ratio and proportion the bandiwala uses for his yummy masala puri but I was very much interested in trying out new dishes at home anything other than what mom makes regularly at home i.e. anna-saaru-palya (though it used to be of the export quality ;). I used to gauge it by just tasting the wonderful puris layered with his spicy peas masala and garnishing (observe him pour the peas masala onto the puris, the style he layers it) that O he must have used this ingredient to get this taste let me also try preparing it at home was my attitude :). The enthu that I used to have before starting the dish wouldn’t last for long as most of the time the dish would turn out to be something else or didn’t taste the same or somewhere something went wrong….
After many tryouts with additions and deletions of the recipe-data I achieved the desired result :).

I would like to post one such recipe today that I tried last weekend which i got from one of my friends and turned out to be a success. Yes it is Masala puri. The quantity I am giving below serves 6-8people. Its very easy-tasty recipe provided you use the below mentioned ingredients with some good planning.

Ingredients
Dry peas (Batani) - 1/2 kg
Small crispy puris or gol guppa (these are available in the market)
Grated carrot - 2
Boiled and mashed potatoes - 1
Chopped Tomatoes – 2
Onions - 2 finely chopped and 1for grinding
Garam Masala – 5 teaspoons
Green chillies - 3or4
Ginger Garlic paste – 1 teaspoon
Coriander chopped -½ cup
Amchur powder – 2teaspoons
Peppercorns - 4or5
Oil - 1 tbsp
Tamarind Chutney
Green Chutney
Thin sev or any other mixture
Chat Masala
Lemon juice
Salt to taste

Method
Soak the dry peas over night. Cook them with some salt and turmeric in a pressure cooker.

Peas masala paste
Grind onion, Ginger garlic paste, one spoon of garam masala, green chillies, peppercorns, coriander, and one cup of the boiled peas to a fine paste.
In a big pan heat some oil. Sauté the above paste for a few minutes till it gives out a nice aroma. Then add the rest of the boiled peas with some salt, amchur powder and 3 spoons of garam masala. Let it boil on a low-medium flame till the paste gets to a thick gravy consistency.
One key tip is the constant boiling of this masala (u must have noticed it on the bandi as well).... If required add little water and start boiling the peas masala at least 15 to 20min before serving the dish.

Now comes the serving part. Actually here the measurement can differ according to your taste.

• Crush 5-6 puris in a plate and add some boiled potatoes as shown.

• Pour the boiling peas masala liberally covering the puris.

• Add chopped tomatoes and onions (quantity as desired)

• Put a few spoons of tamarind and green chutney.
  Add grated carrot, sprinkle fine sev and dash of lemon if required.
  Garnish with coriander leaves and chaat masala.

Serve immediately and enjoyyyyyyyyy.......

This recipe has been submitted in the Event 'Sunday Snacks - Chaats/Indian Street Foods'