PANI PURI

                     

                      

Don’t we all love to go slurp-slurp with our mouth stuffed with a tangy pani-puri (also known in West Bengal as Gol-gappa)? It is indeed an art chomping it down without the ‘paani’ trickling out! Whether we are at a chat place or at a wedding reception, everyone makes a beeline to the pani-puri stall – save a few senior citizens / health-freaks who don’t want to take any chances with their diet / health. A friendly advice to the caterers – how about boiling the tamarind water and adding the ‘pani’ to the puris with a ladle rather than dipping them with gloved / naked hand – these will undoubtedly secure unflinching patronage from eager eaters!

Those of you who have your mouths watering at the very mention of the dish, here’s the simplest and most hygienic way to satisfy your craving – with safe, home-made paani puri – not entirely though. Of course you can make the ‘puris’ at home – using rawa (semolina) to make a stiff dough and frying the small puris made out of it. But how many of us have the time? So go ahead and get a packet from your friendly neighborhood store!

Ingredients

Puris

1. Crisp puffed puri – 1 packet (25-30 puris)

For the pani 

1. Tamarind – 1 big lime sized ball
2. Jaggery – 3-4 tbsp
3. Black salt – ½ tsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Coriander leaves (chopped) - 1-2 tsp

For green chutney

1. Pudina (mint leaves) – 1-2 tbsp
2. Coriander leaves – 4-5 tbsp
3. Ginger – a small piece
4. Green chilli – 1 – 2
5. Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
6. Lime juice – 5 drops

For the filling

1. Potato – 1 medium sized
2. Sprouted moong – 2 tbsp
3. Fine ‘sev’ / ‘farsan’ (‘mixture’)
4. Salt to taste

Method

Chutneys 

Tamarind chutney 

1. Soak the tamarind in hot water and extract the pulp.
2. Add jaggery pieces and boil for 2 minutes.
3. Add black salt, required salt and boil for 5-6 minutes. This is the sweet-sour chutney.

Pani

1. To make the tamarind water / 'pani', add enough water to the above chutney to make it watery. 
2. Boil and check its taste – it should be sweet-sour and tingle your tongue!
3. Add a tsp of finely chopped coriander leaves. The tamarind water is ready.

Green chutney  

1. Grind mint and coriander leaves to a fine paste with green chilli, ginger, cumin seeds and salt. 
2. Add 5 drops of lime juice to retain its green color. 
3. The green chutney is ready. 
4. Make it watery by adding a little water.
5. You can store the above two separately for 3-4 days in the fridge.

Stuffing

1. Boil a potato, peel it and mash it, adding required salt.
2. Add required salt to sprouted ‘moong’ and mix well.
3. The third filling is fine ‘sev’.

To make ‘pani puri’

1. With the entire required stuff ready at hand, be sure to make the ‘pani puris’ just as the guests line up for them.
2. Place 2 puris in a bowl and tap the top of each puri to make a hole.
3. Add ½ tsp each of potato, moong and ‘sev’ in each puri.
4. Add 1 tbsp of the ‘pani’ in each puri and hand over the bowl to the guest to enjoy.

                                       

Tips

1. If you plan in advance to make this special snack, it becomes very easy.
2. Buy the ‘puris’, ‘sev’/ ‘boondi’.
3. Prepare the chutneys before-hand and store separately in the fridge.
4. One day before the D- day, soak moong in water for 3 hours and allow to it sprout overnight.
5. You can simplify the recipe by eliminating sprouted ‘moong’ from the filling.

© Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.