Spusht: Pani Puri Recipe | Indian Chaat

To me, a trip to India is incomplete without Pani Puri, Pav Bhaji, and Paan.

Every time I visited India I ate my heart out – especially from the stalls, the roadside food, the chaat. LOVEEEEEE it. I don’t think there is any single person who does not like pani puri. Please tell me if there is, I would like them to come see me. I am serious.

Pani Puri Recipe - Gol Gappe Indian Chaat

For those who do not know what pani puri is (and are missing something big): Pani Puri is a snack with puffed crispy hollow fried balls made from a combination of either wheat flour, all-purpose flour, and/or semolina flour. The puffed balls (puri) are stuffed with a variety of vegetable/lentil/sprout mixture, dipped into a spicy-tangy minty water (pani) and popped into the mouth.

How to prepare Pani Puri

Pani Puri is known by several names around India, the ones I know are gol gappa (plural: gol gappe), puchka, and gup chup. Puchka is my favorite! Do not confuse this “puri” with the “kadhai ki puri” – this puri is small and crunchy that breaks into pieces, whereas the kadhai ki puri is big and soft and tears into pieces.

In the photos you see: I have used the ready-made packet of puri, store-bought pani masala box mixed with water, home-made stuffing, and assembled it all together. But in this post, I am sharing with you both homemade and readymade methods.

What you Need to Make Pani Puri

1. Pani

A. Homemade

Recipe for making Masala Pani (for Pani Puri):

1 cup cilantro (leaves + stems)

1 cup mint leaves (only leaves not thick stems)

3-4 green chilies (spice level your choice)

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp roasted cumin powder (jeera powder)

1 tsp lemon juice

Salt, black salt, sugar or jaggery, and chaat masala to taste

Remember that there will be some salt in the crispy puri as well as the filling – so start with very little salt. More salt can always be mixed in later.

Combine all ingredients in a blender along with ¼ cup water and grind it into a fine paste. Empty paste into a medium bowl, add about ½ liter water, mix. Taste to adjust the spice, salt, and tangy levels according to your taste. Flavors develop better if you use the Masala Pani after a while, an hour for instance.

Some people prefer their water a little sweet whereas some don’t – so you can make this basic masala pani, and add a little tamarind-date chutney into the puri before dunking the puri into this spicy and tangy pani for the ones who like sweet pani puri like I do.

Spicy Tangy Minty Masala Pani for Pani Puri

B. Readymade

Pani Puri Masala is available in Indian stores in a pouch that may come along with the box of crispy puffed puri, or a Pani Puri Masala box that can be used over a period of time. Follow instructions on the packet or box, add mint leaves, green chilies, lemon juice, and adjust spices according to your taste. Keep tasting the water until you are happy with it.

Yummy Indian Chaat: Pani Puri

2. Puri

A. Homemade

Recipe for making Puri (for Pani Puri):

1 cup fine rawa/sooji (semolina)

¼ tsp salt

Water as required to knead dough

Oil sufficient for deep frying

In a medium bowl: combine semolina + salt, make a semi-stiff dough using required water. Knead well for 2-3 minutes to make the dough smooth, keep covered with moist cloth for 15-20 minutes.

Make small cherry size portions from the dough and apply some oil over them. Roll them out into round thin uniform puris about 2 inch diameter, keeping them covered with a muslin cloth as you roll more to prevent from drying. Meanwhile, heat oil on medium heat in a wide pan. Drop each rolled puri carefully into the hot oil, lightly pressing them with a perforated spoon for the puri to puff up while frying, and deep fry on medium flame on both sides until light brown and crisp. Drain on absorbent paper, let cool completely before storing in airtight container.

Spusht | Called as Gol gappe, Puchka, Pani Puri, Gup Chup

Gol gappe - Puchka - Pani Puri - Gup Chup [note: these are readymade puris]

B. Readymade

Puffed crispy puri boxes or packets are available in Indian stores. You can save yourself a LOT of effort and buy the readymade puri. I just buy to save time.

Dripping tamarind chutney for a sweet pani puri

3. Filling

Fillings are either with boiled potato or pressure cooked chickpeas, or a potato-chickpea-onion mixture, or with some sprouted lentils/beans, or with boondi, or with pressure cooked batana (dried peas), or pressure cooked kala chana – or a combination of either of these.

Boiled potato, pressure cooked chana, onion filling for pani puri

I prefer the potato-chickpea-onion mixture for pani poori:

1 medium boiled potato, mashed

1 cup pressure cooked chickpeas, mashed

½ cup finely chopped onion

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp cumin powder

¼ tsp red chili powder

¼ tsp chaat masala

Mix the mashed potato, mashed chickpeas, and finely chopped onions well with the spices and salt. The amount of potato-chickpea filling above serves about 4 people, considering they eat about 6 pani puri each, and with about ½ to 1 Tbsp of this mixture stuffed in the puri.

Mash potato and chickpeas for pani puri

The 1 cup pressure cooked chickpeas means ½ cup of raw chickpeas soaked in water for 6-8 hours, which double in size to 1 cup by then, and further pressure cooked in 1½ cup water for 20 minutes on medium heat or for two whistles until tender.

How to eat Pani Puri?

Crack one side of the puri with your thumb without breaking the puri into two and without creating a hole on the other side of the puri. Grab some filling mixture and stuff it in. I like sweet paani puri so I drip a little thin tamarind-date chutney over the filling. Dunk the puri into spicy pani or pour the spicy pani into the puri. And pop it in your mouth RIGHT AWAY! Any longer than 5 seconds will cause the crispy puri to become soggy and break into pieces. And that is no fun unless it is happening inside the mouth.

Pani Puri Mouthwatering Indian Chaat

As you sense the crunchiness from the crisp puri, chew the tender boiled and mashed filling mixture, taste a hint of sweetness from the tamarind chutney, and gulp the spicy-tangy water down your throat – it is an explosion of flavors and tastes you can never imagine until you put that luscious pani puri into your mouth.

Enjoy.