Pani Puriપાણીપુરી
The heart of pani puri is the spiced water. Buy the puris ready-made, then make the fresh green pani, a simple potato-chickpea filling and sweet chutney, and you have the whole thing at home.
Ingredients
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- 30-35 ready-made puris
- For the pani: a bunch each of mint and coriander, 2-3 green chillies, ginger
- 2 tbsp tamarind pulp, 1 tsp pani puri masala, black salt, roasted cumin
- Filling: 2 boiled potatoes, 1 cup boiled chickpeas or moong
- Date-tamarind chutney
- Fine sev and chopped onion, optional
Method
- Blend the mint, coriander, chillies and ginger with a little water into a fine paste.
- Stir the paste into 1.5 litres of chilled water with tamarind, masala, black salt and cumin. Chill for an hour.
- Mash the potatoes with the chickpeas, salt and a little masala for the filling.
- Crack a hole in each puri, add filling and a little sweet chutney.
- Dip in the spiced water and eat immediately.
Tips
- The colder the pani the better; add ice cubes before serving.
- Letting the pani rest for an hour makes a real difference to the flavour.
Storing and reheating
The spiced water keeps two days in the fridge, but by the third day the mint darkens and turns the flavour bitter. The potato filling keeps one day. Puris stay crisp for weeks in an airtight box, yet go soft within minutes once damp air reaches them; three or four minutes on a tawa or in the oven brings them back. Date-tamarind chutney lasts two to three weeks refrigerated.
What you can swap
- No pani puri masala? Mix your own from roasted cumin, black salt, amchur, a pinch of asafoetida and a little dried ginger powder.
- Without tamarind pulp, a teaspoon of amchur powder or some boiled raw mango pulp gives the same sourness, though the colour stays paler.
- Boiled moong, matth beans or white peas work instead of chickpeas. Moong makes a lighter filling.
- If you are buying ready puris rather than frying your own, shake the box before you buy it. A lot of loose crumbs means old stock.
What to serve with it
This is evening snack food, and in Gujarat half the pleasure is eating it standing at a street cart. At home, for guests or a children's party, put everything in the middle of the table and let people fill their own.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not make the filling heavily spiced or wet. Lightly salted mashed potato is all it should be, because the flavour comes from the water. A wet filling softens the puri from the inside.
- Do not strain the water. The flecks of mint and coriander floating in it are the point. Strained, you lose both the taste and the look.
- Make the hole on the thin top side of the puri, pressing gently with your thumb. Press on the thick base and the whole puri caves in.
- Do not fill a whole plate of puris in advance. A filled puri goes soggy in about two minutes. Fill one, eat it, fill the next.
Questions people ask
Why is my pani bitter?
Grinding the mint stalks along with the leaves causes it. Use leaves only. The other cause is running the mixer too long, which heats the leaves. Add a little ice and grind in short bursts.
How far ahead can I make the water?
An hour or two ahead is ideal: the flavours settle and it gets properly cold. For anything longer than twelve hours, keep the mint-coriander paste separate in the fridge and stir it into the water just before serving.
What do I do with leftover spiced water?
Keep it refrigerated and sprinkle a spoon or two over bhel or sev puri the next day, or dilute it with water and ice and drink it like jaljeera. Discard anything older than three days.
