Pani Puri

C for Chaats

Chaat is a plate of savoury snacks typically served at the roadside stalls or carts in India. Aloo tikkis, bhel puri, dahi puri, pani puri, papdi chaat, sev puri etc come under the Chaat category. Chaat specialty varies from city to city.
Chaats are one of the favorites among all ages. I was ready to eat Bangalore chaats anytime of the day :). I really miss standing in front of those small shops or stalls, where we buy coupons and wait for the vendor to prepare and present you some yummy colorful dish. They are easily accessible and customized to individual’s taste like more/less spicy; add more onions, tomatoes etc. And not to mention the car service that the shops offers – my goodness what a serviceeeee…..
Back to college days where we all were treating on our pocket money so this was the best option for all of us – all the items ranged between Rs.10 to Rs.25/-
We made Panipuri, the easiest amongst the lot last week and this reminded me of the C for chaats made in India.
Panipuri or Gol Gappa or Phuchka consists of a round hollow fried puri/sphere, which is filled with potato, onions, chickpeas and spicy water. Sometime ago I remember reading why it is called as Gol gappa - round crisp puris (gol) is placed in the mouth and eaten at once without many bites(gappa).
Let me take you to a virtual world of panipuris ;)
Typically Panipuris are served in 5-10 quantities, which makes a plate. Some shops also offer panipuris pre-prepared in a whole plate. But the most popular way is to be served 1 at a time from a roadside vendor. The customers hold a small bowl (made of dry leaves) and stand around the vendor’s cart. The server then starts preparing 1 puri at a time and gives 1 to each of them. Here the server has to remember each customer’s preferences eg: sweet panipuri or more filling or more onions etc. He also has to keep a count of how many panipuris each person has had. Thus Panipuri vendors are well known for remembering choices and numbers served. Thus he finishes his servings with a cup of pani.
Thus with your aah..aah or water in your nose off in a zoooooooom – Yes its as simple as it sounds :). What r u waiting for?

Ingredients
For filling
Puris/Gol gappas – 1 Pkt ( that u get in any Indian stores)
Finely chopped onions- 1
Grated carrot – 1
Boiled potatoes with skin peeled and mashed – 1
Finely chopped cilantro
Lemon Juice

Pani/Spicy water
Cilantro – ½ bunch
Mint/ Pudina leaves – ½ qty of cilantro
Cumin seeds – 2tsp
Tamarind – 2 lemons sized balls
Jaggery – double the qty of tamarind
Black salt – 2tsp
Garam masala – 1/2tsp
Green chillies – 3 or 4
Peppercorns – 2
Lemon –1
Onion –1
Preparing Pani : Grind cumin seeds, tamarind, jaggery, black salt, garam masala, green chillies, peppercorns, lemon and onions in a mixie to a fine paste.
Later on add mint and cilantro to the above paste and grind together to a smooth paste.Add this paste to 1litre of water and mix well. Pani is ready to be served

Meeta/Sweet chutney
Tamarind – 1 lemon-sized ball
Jaggery – Thrice the tamarind
Preparing Meeta/ sweet chutney: Soak both jaggery and tamarind separately in warm water for sometime. Squeeze all the juice from the tamarind and mix it with jaggery and bring it to boil and then take off from heat and cool. Sweet chutney is ready.

Method of making Panipuri

• Take 5puris and make a hole with your hand in the center.
• Fill the puris with boiled potatoes,carrot, onions, cilantro
• Top it up with some sweet chutney and fill the puris with pani/spicy water and gulp it at 1 shot.Enjoy your panipuris !

Variations: For the filling you could also add boiled green peas along with potatoes, add sprouts or chickpeas.
You can also chill the pani and serve.

Have a nice weekend!