Pani Puri

Is there any one who doesn’t like pani puris? I remember the first time I had pani puri in my life. I was around four years old and had just settled in Mumbai from Kerala. My mama had taken me, my grand parents and my aunt to Chowpatty and there he bought pani puri for us. The moment we put it in our mouth, we had almost thrown it 🙂 Just couldn’t take the taste and flavours…. But then later on while at IIT, we used to have pani puris for evening snack on every thursdays. We were a group of eight girls in Mathematics department. I remember, we taking loads of puris in a big plate, filling tall glasses with the pani, filling bowls with cooked moong, onions etc and then each of us filling the puris for the other and enjoying the evening session. Missing all those good old days 🙁

Then slowly as my little sister grew up, we started making pani puris at home. Ofcourse, the puris used to be store bought. Later on after marriage when I settled in Chennai, I used to make it only during my sister’s visit. Years went by, my little sister got married and settled in Chennai. Pani puris became more regular. She used to get puris from the famous Mansukh’s ( Chennai people would know this place ) and I used to make the rest of the ingredients. Later on as Neha grew, she used to look forward to the pani puri sessions with her masi 🙂 Four years back, my sister shifted back to Mumbai and Neha vowed to have pani puri only during her masi’s visit.

Last year after joining HBG, a baking group on facebook, I got more active on the internet and started watching you tube videos and learnt how to make these puris at home… So, now no more store bought puris, everything is prepared at home… right from scratch. The scenario at home during my sister’s visit is something like this….. . Neha, my sister and little niece sit around the plate of puris and finish it in no time 🙂

Ingredients:

For the puri:

• Fine semolina/chirotti rava 1 cup
• Salt to taste
• Water as required
• Oil for frying

• Boiled green gram 1/2 cup
• Salt as required
• Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
• Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
• Boiled potatoes
• Chat masala
• Boondi
• Onion

• Coriander leaves 1cup
• Mint leaves 1 cup
• Salt to taste
• Sugar as required
• Chat masala
• Amchur powder
• Green chillies 2-3
• Sugar 1 tsp
• Raw mango a small piece
• Lime juice 1 tsp

• Dates 3-4
• Tamarind a small lime size ball
• Salt to taste
• Jaggery to taste
• Red chilli powder a pinch

• Add salt to the semolina and knead it into a tight dough.
• Cover the dough with a moist cloth and keep it aside for atleast half an hour for the dough to rest.
• Divide it into equal pieces and roll it into very thin big rotis by dusting the counter with little flour.
• Keep the remaining dough covered or else it will dry out.
• Use a small round cutter or any bottle/tin cap and cut it into small puris.
• Use the uncut part of the dough and roll it again and cut puris out of it. Repeat it for the entire dough.
• Or alternatively you can roll individual small puris and fry them.
• Heat oil in a kadhai till it is hot.
• Reduce the flame to medium and deep fry few puris at a time till it is cooked and is crisp.
• Remove from oil and drain on a tissue paper.
• Store in airtight containers once it is cooled well.

• Wash and clean the green gram (moong) and soak it in water for 1-2 hours.
• Cook it with salt, turmeric powder and chilli powder.
• Boil potatoes and peel it. Cut it into small pieces or mash it a bit.
• Sprinkle little salt and chat masala on top.

• Clean and wash the coriander and mint leaves. Grind these leaves along with green chillies, few pieces of raw mango and/or lime juice into a fine paste.
• Add around 1 litre of cold water and add salt, sugar, chat masala and amchur powder.
• Strain the water through a sieve and check the seasonings and adjust it according to your taste.

How to make the tamarind chutney:

• Soak few dates in water and allow it to become soft. Make a thick tamarind pulp.
• Grind the soaked dates into a fine paste.
• Boil the dates paste and add the tamarind paste and bring it to a boil.
• Add salt, red chilli powder and some jaggery.
• Do not over boil. Cool and use.

• Fill a huge tray with the fried puris. Take the pani in individual glass or bowl.
• Take the cooked moong, boiled potatoes, finely chopped onion, tamarind chutney, fried boondi in small bowls.
• It is family time now 🙂
• Sit around these yummy goodies with a small plate in your hand.
• Pick up a puri, poke at the centre, stuff the filling of your choice, add a bit of tamarind chutney.
• Pour the puri or dip it in your bowl of pani and gorge it 🙂
• Repeat till you finish all the puris…

• There might be some stubborn/adamant puris which would refuse to puff up while frying….
• Use it to make sev puris or dahi papdi chat or add it in your bhel puri.
• Do not put too many puris into the oil while frying. This will reduce the oil temperature drastically.
• Regulate the oil temperature properly. If its too hot, the puris will remain soft.
• If it is too low, it will absorb too much oil.
• It is a time consuming job… do it with lot of patience.
• Rolling out these puris will seem never ending. But it is worth the effort. Much better than store bought puris.
• This is our family version of eating pani puris. You guys may have another style. Just sharing my version with you all.