Pani puri recipe | 7 Tips for Perfect pani puri | golgappa

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Pani puri, Gol gappa, puchka, Gup Chup, Pani Ke Batashe…call it by any name, the feeling attached to it is same everywhere….. YUMMY!! These are round, hollow balls made of flour and eaten with boiled mashed potatoes and different flavors of water. In this blog, I am going to tell you about how to make Pani puri or golgappa in detail, with pictures, video and tips to make crispy pani puri.

Pani puri or golgappa, are very famous Indian street food. They are crispy and spicy. They are found in every nook and corner of India. Pani puri recipe is very easy. But it has many technical points to keep in mind, while making it. Although, once you get it right, you are just going to love making them at home. After all who doesn’t want to eat hygienic food.

What is PANI PURI

Pani puri is a small puri (unleavened fried Indian bread).
It can be made with atta (whole wheat flour), suji (semolina) and some even make it using refined flour (maida).
It is fried till its crisp and should remain like that, even if left for a day or two. That is very important,as it is eaten by filling it with poatoes mixture and different flavors of water.

PANI PURI and it’s accompaniment

Pani puri is not eaten alone. It is an important part of a complete street style snack in India. There are different elements or things that are required to be eaten with Pani puri or golgappa. These elements make it a complete dish or snack.

Pani puri – First is, obviously the pani puri or gol gappe. They should be crisp and small in size as these are one bite snack.
Potato stuffing – There is a stuffing or filling made with boiled potatoes, black chickpeas (kala chana) and chopped oinons. Normally, there is no spice added to this mixture. Not even the salt.
Water – The water which is taken with the pani puri or gol gappe, provides all the flavors to it. There are many flavors of “pani puri or golgappa ka pani “, available in India. The different flavors of the water, makes it easy to customize the pani puri flavors as per the individual’s choice.

A few other interesting recipes

How to eat Pani Puri or Golgappa

Pani puri or golgappa are easy to assemble and enjoy. You need to make all the elements of this street style snack in advance. And when you want to eat this, just take them out and enjoy as per your choice of flavors.

Yes, the flavors of pani puri are made only while eating. And it’s not at all difficult or tedious to do so. The following steps will help you to enjoy this Indian snack.

Keep the pani puri or golgappa ready.
Boil and mash the potatoes.
Boil the black chickpeas (kala chana).
Finely chop the onion.
Mix potatoes, black chickpeas (kala chana) and chopped onions and keep in a bowl.
Prepare different flavors of water and keep them ready in different bowls or glasses.
Take one gol gappa.
Break its round dome, from one side, using your finger lightly. Be careful not to break the other side of it.
Put in the filling of potatoes, black chickpeas and onion.
Dip it in your choice of flavored water, and put this whole pani puri or gol gappa in your mouth.

Well, that was easy , right? See what I meant by customizing your pani puri. Believe me, after eating it once, you’ll not be able to stop, till you have had it to your fill. They are just so addictive!

Pani Puri Recipe video

Flavors of Pani puri water

There are many flavors of Pani puri water. I am listing below some commonly made flavors.

Teekha pani (spicy water)
Khatta meetha pani (sweet and sour)
Heeng Jeera pani (asafoetida cumin water)
Plain Jeera pani ( Cumin water)
Nimbu pani (Lemon water)
Khatta Pani (Tangy water)
Lehsun masala pani (garlic spiced water)

There are many other flavors, which we can make. It all depends on your creativity and palatte taste. You can make a fruity or a mocktail water. But this is a totally another discussion, which I will take in another blog.

Ingredients for pani puri

This pani puri recipe will yield around 80 – 90 puris!!

FOR PANI PURI

Atta (whole wheat flour) – 2/3 cup
suji (semolina ) – 2/3 cup
Salt – 1 tsp
Water as required
Oil for frying

FILLING

Boiled Potatoes – 3 medium, mashed
Boiled black chickpeas ( kala chana) – 1/2 cup
Onion – 1, finely chopped

WATER

Teekha pani (spicy water)
Khatta meetha pani (Sweet and sour )

Method

1. Take atta (whole wheat flour), suji (semolina) and salt. Mix them.

2. Make a soft dough using water. The dough should be essentially soft like normal dough for chapati (roti).

3. Cover and rest the dough for 30 min. It is an important step, as suji will absorb water and the dough will get little hard, just as it is required in this pani puri recipe.

4. After 30 min, knead the dough again and make it smooth.

5. Divide the dough in 4 equal parts. Cover them with a wet kitchen cloth.

6. Take one part dough and roll it out into a thin roti or puri. It should be thinner than normal roti/chapati.

rolling the dough for pani puri or golgappa

7. Dough should not get stretched, while lifting the roti. If it is getting stretched then it would mean that the dough has not been set properly and the puri will not hold good shape while frying or will get soft after they are fried.

8. Roti should not stick to the surface you are rolling it on. If it sticks, then it would mean that the dough is still soft, and the puris will be soft after they are fried. You can try to fix it by using little dry flour while rolling the dough.

9. Take a sharp edged round cutter and cut out the puri for pani puri. You can use cookies cutter, small katori, glass or even bottle lids, but the edges of your cutter must be sharp, else the puri will not fluff up in the oil while frying.

10. If you have nothing to cut the puris in round shape, then you may make them in another way. Take small part of dough and roll it long like a log. Cut it into small portions using a knife. Take one portion out of this, and roll into small puri.

11. Cut out all the puris and keep them in a plate, covered with a wet kitchen cloth, until you fry them.

12. Heat oil in a wok/kadai. The oil should be very hot or else the puris will not be crisp and fluffy. When you put puri in oil, it should rise instantly to the top of the oil.

13. Just as the puri rises to top, quickly press it lightly with the laddle. Its again very important to make the puri fluffy and crisp. If you don’t press the puri, then they won’t fluff up round.