March 4, 2020

Pani Puri

Pani puri is Round, hollow puri, filled with spicy green water, date-tamarind chutney, potatoes flavored, mung beans, chickpeas and chaat masala!

This is the mother of the chaat family! Pani is water and Puri is deep fried crispy, light, airy, hollow ball. It is cold, sweet and spicy, crispy and moist everything in just one bite! It is one of the very popular street food of India. There are literally pani puri stalls at every corner of any neighborhood! These stalls fulfill two purposes. One is to feed food lovers like me on the go and the other is to help small, local businesses making some money, I would say some people’s day to day income.

I grew up eating these on regular basis. I used a scooter to go around while I was in India. While I would go places, I made sure stopping at these pani puri stalls to have a quick snack! I started making them a lot at home after I moved to the States. My mom always had this amazing recipe for both spicy water and sweet water, which is the key to this dish! I serve these with side of potatoes loaded with chaat masala, boiled mung beans and boiled kala chana! The spicy bright green water is so refreshing and immensely flavorful! The sweet chutney is super versatile! It can be used in all the chaat recipes. It freezes very well too! I like to make a big batch of it and freeze for later use! I use them for sev puri, dahi puri, bhel, ragda patties, samosa etc.

This recipe is one of those recipes that never fails to please. Every time I make this, We eat them for at-least 2-3 days LOL. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Happy and Healthy Eating!

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Pani Puri

Round, hollow puri, filled with a mixture of flavored spicy green water, date-tamarind chutney, potatoes flavored with chaat masala, mung beans, chickpeas and potatoes!

Servings 4

Ingredients

Sweet Water Ingredients

12 oz Pitted Dates
3 tbsp Tamarind Concentrate
¼ cup Jaggery
2 tsp Black Salt
2 tsp Roasted Cumin Powder

Spicy Green Water

2 cup Tightly Packed Mint Leaves
2 cup Tightly Packed Cilantro
8-10 Thai Green Chilis
1 Big Lemon
3 tsp Black Salt
2 tsp Roasted Cumin Powder
½ tsp Black Pepper Powder
2 tbsp Jaggery
2 tbsp Pani Puri Masala

Potato & Bean Mix

2 cup Boiled Potatoes
2 cup Boiled Mung
2 cup Boiled Kala Chana
1 cup Finely Chopped Red Onion
3 tsp Pani Puri Masala
1 tsp Black Salt
1 tsp Roasted Cumin Powder
½ tsp Red Chili Powder
½ cup Chopped Cilantro
Dryish leftovers from strained Spicy Green Water

Other Ingredients

2 box Crispy Puris 40-60 puris
1 cup Thin Sev optional
1 cup Desi Yogurt optional

Instructions

Soak mung beans for 6-8 hours. Boil them with salt and water. Doing one whistle in Indian pressure cooker would be just enough. You do not want to over cook it, it gets mushy if they are boiled for longer. Once boiled, discard extra water and keep them aside.
Soak kala chana for 6-8 hours. Boil them with salt and water. Doing 3-4 whistle in Indian pressure cooker would be enough. Once boiled, discard extra water, add 1-2 tsp of chaat masala, mix it and keep them aside
Mash boiled potatoes, add 1-2 tsp chaat masala. Mix it and keep it aside.

Sweet Pani/Water

Boil pitted dates in a pressure cooker. Let it cool down some.
Blend boiled dates, tamarind concentrate, jaggery, black salt and roasted cumin powder with 4 cups of cold water and some ice.
Blend it until it gets to smooth thick water (light smoothie) consistency. Taste it and add black salt if needed. Add more water/ice if it is too thick. If it taste sour, add more jaggery to make it sweet. Keep it refrigerated.

Spicy Green Water

Blend all spicy green water ingredients with 4 cups of water. Taste it and add more spices/black salt/pani puri masala/lemon juice if needed.
Strain spicy green water with a strainer. Strain it very well so that you have somewhat dry leftovers. Once strained, do not discard the green leftover mix. You will use it in "Potato & Beans Mix". Add some ice to the strained spicy water and keep it refrigerated.

Make Potato & Beans Mix

Mix everything listed under "Potato & Beans Mix" along with the leftovers from "Spicy Green Water". Keep it aside or refrigerate it if making ahead of time.