When ever I think of Pani puri, I remember my mom. She makes the best pani puris according to me. When we were in college, my brother used to bring his friends to home for parties. All his friends were my mom's fans. They liked whatever she prepares. Pani puri is one of their favorites. Mom prepares a huge box full of puris and a large vessel full of pani. We used to sit around her and she will start serving in order. We couldn't stop eating those cute little puris filled with tangy pani. Once, for Shiv rathri my brother and his friends told that they are going to be awake for the whole night and celebrate shiv rathri. My brother asked my mom to prepare pani puris. They took a large quantity of pani and puris to the terrace. By mid night they polished off the vessels, returned back to their homes and had a good night's sleep. We remember those days even now.
When we resided in Pondicherry 20years back, we used to go to the beach. On the way, near Lakshmi Mills showroom, there was a chaat vendor who also prepared good pani puris. I don't know whether he is still there. If I visit Pondicherry, I will surely go in search of him.
But now when ever I visit a chaat corner, I try pani puri and am not at all satisfied with the taste. They lack the punch of the pani my mom prepares. As my mom doesn't do any elaborate works due to her health nowadays, the craving for good pani puri has increased a lot. So one day, I called up my mom and asked for the recipe. Then I started collecting all the ingredients. One fine day I set to prepare puris. The next day, I prepared the stuffing and pani and couldn't wait to taste them. Even as I was taking the snaps, I was gobbling up as if I was famished. Though it did miss my mom's final touch, it was nice. After so many years, I tasted delicious home made pani puris and I was so happy that day. But when PK told me that he don't like pani puri, I was totally disappointed. Then I prepared a sweet version with curd and he liked that. I think I have bored you a lot with my childhood memories....
Ingredients:
Puri-20
Potato stuffing-1/2cup
Pani-1cup
Potato Stuffing:
This is a simple stuffing and very easy to put together. You can also use sprouts to make it healthy.
Ingredients:
Potato-2
Black Chickpea-1/8cup
Salt-to taste
Coriander leaves-2tbs
Carrot(grated)-3tbs
Procedure:
1. Soak chickpeas overnight and pressure cook for 10 minutes.
2. Drain water and keep it aside.
3. Pressure cook potatoes, peel skin and mash.
4. In a bowl, mix mashed potatoes, cooked chickpeas, carrot, coriander leaves, salt and crushed puris.
5. keep it covered until further use.
Pani:
This is a combination of coriander leaves, mint leaves, green chillies and tamarind water. Add chillies according to your taste. I like it very hot. I ground the chillies separately and added it in batches until I was satisfied with the taste.
Ingredients:
Coriander Leaves-1cup
Mint Leaves-1/2cup
Cumin Seeds-1tsp
Green Chilly-7-8
Tamarind-lemon sized ball
Salt-to taste
Procedure:
1. Soak tamarind for 10 minutes in 1/2cup of water.
2. Extract the juice. Add 1/2cup more water and extract the second juice.
3. Mix both juices and keep it aside.
4. Grind coriander leaves, mint leaves and cumin to a fine paste.
5. Grind green chillies with a little coriander leaves to a fine paste.
6. In a bowl add 1/2 the amount of tamarind extract, a cup of water, 1/2 of the coriander leaves paste and 1/2 the chilly paste.
7. Now start adjusting the ingredients until you get the perfect taste. If you like the pani tangy, then add extra tamarind juice. If you like it hot, add the chilly paste.
8. Add salt to taste.
While serving, keep all the ingredients handy.
Break the centre of a puri.
Fill it with stuffing.
Dip the puri into pani and fill it with pani and serve.
Can any one resist this?
If you are serving for your family, then you can serve it by dipping the puris in pani. But if you are serving it for some guests, then serve it as shown in the first snap. Either way, it is delicious.
Linking this to WTML-February going on here at my blog and Celebrating Street Foods at Tomato BluesLabels: CHAT, CHOLE, CORIANDER, MINT LEAVES, PANI PURI, POTATO, TAMARIND
