Indian Street Food ~ Pani Puri (Gol Gappa)

Puchka aka Pani Puri

March will be ‘Indian Street Food’ special on ‘Sailu’s Kitchen’ where I will be featuring Chaat and snack recipes. I will try to cover as many recipes as I can prepare during this month. Chaats are India’s National Snacks like hot dogs or burgers are to America or Tacos are to Mexico. The innumerable Chaats and snacks showcase a myriad of flavors and textures – sweet, salty, tangy, spicy, soft and crispy, that epitomize Indian food.
Today, I’m blogging a tongue tickling crowd pleaser, popular all over the country. It is known by different names based on the region – Gol Gappa (East India), Pani Puri (West & South India) or Puchka (North India). This street food sensation is popular among all age groups as it adds a flavorful punch to the palate. Each region or home have their own version of Pani Puri, in terms of fillings.

Puri

Basically pani puris are small balls made of flour and semolina, rolled out into very small puris and deep fried to a golden shade, cooled and stored in air tight containers. The hollow puri is slightly crushed on the top and filled with a little each of mashed potatoes, chopped onions and sweet chutney, then dipped in a chilled mint flavored tangy water, and eaten as a whole, in one mouthful. As you savor the pani puri, you can literally feel the explosion of flavors in your mouth, an assortment of crisp, tangy, spicy tastes.

Puri/Puchka Recipe

Prep: 10 mts, Sitting time: 30, Cooking time: 20-30 mts

Serves 8-10 persons

Cuisine: Indian

Source: Recipe files

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Ingredients: 1/2 tbsp maida/all-purpose flour
2 tbsps urad dal flour
1 1/2 cups ravva/semolina/sooji (very fine variety)
salt to taste
water for kneading (bottled soda water prefered)
oil for deep frying