Pani Puri or Golgappa

Pani Puri or Golgappa is the one of the most popular street snack and a tongue tickling crowd pleaser that doesn’t need any introduction. In my opinion it is the “King of Chaats” and is my most favourite chaat with out any doubt, which always brings a huge smile on my face. It comprises small spherical balls of around one inch in diameter, made up with semolina flour, rolled out into very small puris and deep fried to a golden shade. To check out the recipe to make puris for pani puri, click here. The hollow puri is slightly crushed on the top and filled with a little bit of mashed potatoes, boiled chickpeas, chopped onions and sweet chutney, then dipped in a chilled mint flavoured tamarind water, and eaten as a whole, in one bite.

Pani puri or Golgappa gets smashed with the application of just a tad of pressure as soon as it is placed inside the mouth. It bursts with a sound in the mouth when it is eaten. As you savour the Pani puri or Golgappa, you can literally feel the explosion of flavours in your mouth, an assortment of crisp, tangy, sweet and spicy tastes. “Pani Puri or golgappa” is one of the most delicious, mouth watering and taste bud moving appetisers. You just can’t resist it.

It is known with different names in different regions across the country. To name a few, ‘Golgappa’ in North, ‘Puchka’ in Calcutta, ‘Gup shup’ in orissa and ‘Pani Puri’ in the rest of India. The debate between the versions as to which one tastes better than the other is never ending. I absolutely love Pani puri and thoroughly enjoy any of the versions. Every version differs from the other in the proportions of the ingredients used to make pani or spiced water. The fillings used makes each version taste different from the other. I wish I could have all those flavours together, and that’s the perk of doing it yourself at home. The flavours can be customised to our liking. And there comes the advantage of having lived and experienced food across cultures to create a new balance of flavours.

Whatever said, my view of chaat, especially Pani Puri or Golgappa in particular is that it should not have a great deal of finesse. The first mouthful should take you back to the streets of the crowded city, to the heat and dust, to the pedestrians who jostle you as you eat and to the Bollywood music that is always playing somewhere in the background.

In Delhi style Golgappa filling is mainly steamed moong sprouts with a combination of mashed potatoes and soft boondi (soaked in water and squeezed) or even soft cooked white chickpeas with potato. Where as in Puchka, the filling is with kala chana and potato combination and is totally spiced up with the bhaja masala, a unique bengali spice blend which plays a major role in bringing out the key flavours. In Mumbai style Pani Puri the filling used is ragda,which is softly cooked white peas and more over the filling used in Mumbai Pani puri is HOT unlike the other versions. But today I leave it to you guys to decide which version is this recipe…probably a mix n match of all!!

Typically, Pani Puris or Golgappas are served with 5–8 in a portion (am I kidding?) on a triangular plate made from dry sal leaves. Some places offer pani puris pre-made into a whole plate, but the popular way for them to be served is one at a time from a road-side vendor. You can never predict the numbers once you start eating them. Customers hold a small plate and stand around the server’s cart. The server then starts making one pani puri at a time and gives one to each individual. Pani puri servers have to remember each customer’s preferences such as sweetened pani, more filling or extra onions, for example. The server must also keep count of how many pani puris each person has had. Pani puri servers are renowned for remembering choices and numbers served, even when serving an entire crowd. What a memory power….That’s truly commendable!!

Traditionally, Pani Puris are eaten by placing the entire puri into the mouth and biting it. This releases a barrage of different tastes. Panipuris may be finished off with a cup of the pani, sweetened or made tarter to taste.

This recipe has a pani that’s got a generous amount of spices along with a hint of mint and coriander- one filling is spicy mashed potato, raw onion & chickpeas and the other is with sprouted moong beans, raw onions and sweet potato. Frankly if you are not too convinced with these North Indian flavours, you may feel free to make adjustments to the ingredients to suit your taste and that’s the beauty of the recipe. The puris however are available at stores but I have shared the Puri recipe for Pani Puris for those who believe in doing by themselves!!

Btw…this recipe is a part of the blog hop theme “CHAAT RECIPES” and also my last share for the theme!!

Step-by-Step process in making Pani Puri or Golgappa:

It involves the following stages-

1. Making Puris
2. Making the pani
3. Making the filling
4. Finally assembling and serving pani puris or golgappas

1. Making Puris for Pani Puri or Golgappa:

• You can use homemade puris or store bought. To refer to the recipe for homemade puri recipe, click here.

2. For Pani or Spiced water:

• Grind mint and coriander leaves along with ginger and green chilli to a fine paste.

• Strain and save the residue, which will be used in the filling.

NOTE: You can also increase the quantities and make green chutney and reserve half the paste aside and mix the rest of the ground chutney with 4 cups of water and mix nicely. You can store the left over green chutney and use it for other chaats or freeze it for later use. For the recipe for green chutney, click here. I’m following the straining method.

• Add tamarind juice, salt, sugar, lemon juice, red chilli powder, chaat masala, cumin powder, coriander powder, pani puri masala and black salt (kala namak) to the liquid.
• These are the kick-start ingredients, balance out the flavours by adjusting or omitting the ingredients to suit your taste buds.
• Add 4 to 5 cups of water.

• Now taste the water and adjust the taste of pani or spiced water according to your wish by adding either extra sweet chutney  or tamarind juice or sugar or the spices or more water. If you have green chutney, then you can also adjust that.
• If you balance the pani right the pani puri tastes more delicious.
• Add some boondi to the pani and chill it for 3-4 hours until the flavours blend well. Keep the pani COLD until serving.

NOTE: Instead of tamarind juice and sugar you can add 3-4 tablespoons of dates tamarind chutney (sweet chutney) and mix well. Substitute sweet chutney for tamarind juice and sugar. Do not add both otherwise it will either become too sweet or tangy.

3. For the filling:

I’m using two different fillings for today’s recipe:

1. Black chickpeas with potato
2. Sprouted moong beans with sweet potato

1. For black chickpeas with potato filling:

• Wash and soak chickpeas overnight.
• Wash and drain again and add fresh water and pressure cook for 1 whistle and simmer it for 5-6 minutes. Don’t cook it too long otherwise it will become really mushy.
• Boil potatoes and peel.
• Grab the rest of the ingredients and finely chop onions, green chilli and coriander.

• Take a bowl, add boiled potatoes and mash.

• To this add boiled chickpeas and the rest of the ingredients listed under the heading “For the filling”.
• Now add the left over residue from straining the pani and mix well.

For sprouted moong beans and sweet potato filling:

Click here to view the recipe for this filling. Skip tofu in the sprouted moong bean chaat recipe and use the filling as the second filling for Pani Puri or Golgappa.

4. Assembling and serving Pani Puri or Golgappa:

• If you have everything ready, making Pani Puri or Golgappa is a breeze.
• You can arrange few puris in a plate with some filling, finely chopped onion coriander mixture on the side along with a bowl of pani.
• Take a puri, make a hole in the centre big enough to fill the stuffing. (just tap the thin side of the puri with your index finger)
• Now fill the puri with a little filling.
• Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and onions.
• Immerse it in chilled pani and eat the whole poori with the stuffing and gulp it right away to enjoy!

Print Recipe

Pani Puri or Golgappa

Pani puri or Golgappa comprises of hollow puri, slightly crushed on the top and filled with mashed potatoes, boiled chickpeas, chopped onions and sweet chutney, then dipped in a chilled mint flavoured tamarind water, and eaten as a whole, in one bite.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Indian

Author: Padma

Ingredients

• 30 homemade Pani Puris or store bought
• For pani:
• 1/2 cup Mint leaves
• 1/3 cup Coriander leaves
• 1-2 small Green chillies
• 1/2 " Ginger chopped
• 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Panipuri masala any brand
• ¾ teaspoon roasted Cumin powder
• ½ teaspoon coriander powder
• ½ teaspoon Red chilli powder
• ½ teaspoon black salt Kala namak
• ½ teaspoon Chaat masala
• ½ teaspoon amchoor powder Dry mango powder
• Salt to taste
• 4 to 5 Tablespoons of sweet chutney or ¼ cup tamarind juice and 1 Tablebspoon Sugar
• 4-5 cups of water
• For the filling:
• 3 to 4 potatoes boiled and peeled
• ½ cup black chickpeas soaked overnight and boiled
• ¼ cup chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon red chilli flakes
• ¼ teaspoon Kala namak black salt
• ¼ teaspoon Roasted Cumin powder
• ¼ teaspoon Chaat masala
• ¼ teaspoon Amchur powder Dry mango powder
• Salt to taste
• Residue from pani
• For Garnish:
• ½ cup Boondi for Pani
• 1 small Onion finely chopped
• 1-2 tablespoon Coriander leaves finely chopped

Instructions

• For Pani:
• Grind mint leaves and coriander leaves along with ginger and green chilles to a fine paste.
• Strain and save the residue for the filling.
• Add the rest of the ingredients listed under "For Pani" to the liquid.
• Add 4 to 5 cups of water
• Now taste the water and adjust the pani taste according to your wish by adding any of the ingredients to balance tall the flavours in the pani.
• Add boondi and chill the pani for 3-4 hours until the flavours blend well. Keep the pani COLD until serving.
• For the filling:
• Take a bowl, add boiled potatoes and mash potatoes.
• To this add boiled chickpeas and the rest of the ingredients listed under the heading “For the filling” along with the left over residue from the pani and mix well.
• Assemble and serve Pani Puri:
• Arrange 8 puris in a plate with some filling, finely chopped onion coriander mixture on the side along with a bowl of pani.
• Make holes in the puris and stuff it with a little filling and top it with onion-coriander mixture and dip it in cold pani and enjoy!!

Notes

1. Adjust spice levels with red chilli powder and green chilli.
2. The quantity of mint leaves should be more than the quantity of coriander leaves for the pani.
3. For sprouted moong bean filling, you can boil the sprouts of you wish to.
4. Feel free to omit an ingredient or include any of your favourite ingredients.
5. Adjust all the spices, tanginess and sweetness in the pani to suit your taste. There should be a balance of all the flavours.
6. Though you can use the tamarind mixture mixed with sugar directly,
7. I strongly suggest you to use sweet chutney for the pani recipe as it elevates the taste of pani puri to a different level.
8. If you do not have pani puri masala in hand, you can increase the quantity of chaat masala in the recipe.
9. Prep and cook time does not include for making puris for the recipe.
10. You can also garnish with Sev and serve.

Do check out other popular post related to this category-

• Coriander mint green chutney
• Dates tamarind chutney
• Sweet and Sour Tomato Chutney
• Chaat Style Sandwich
• Capsicum Aloo Paneer Tikki
• Mint Onion Pakoda
• Puri Recipe for Pani Puri
• Sprouted Moong Bean Chaat

And many more to come!!….Stay tuned!!

Happy Cooking 🙂

Cheers!!

Padma