March 29, 2024

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Red Hot Food

Khatti Meethi (Sour and Sweet) Pani Puri

A different name in a different place; call it golgappa, puchka or pani puri but this dish remains a favourite street food in India.

Tuck into your mouth a crispy puri stuffed with boiled chickpeas or sprouted moong and dunked into the tasty water of pani puri and a burst of flavours unfurl to tingle your taste buds. From tangy to sweet and spicy to sour, a combine of all flavours possible is what makes this heavenly dish an irresistible snack.

Different cultures and cities have their own styles of serving this dish. Some have fillings made of boiled chickpeas while some serve boiled potatoes in it and others have their own combinations of the flavoured water. Here is a recipe of sprouted moong as a filling which is a delicious yet healthy option.

Pani puri recipe:

Ingredients:

Around 50 puris (crisp, puffed puris are used for pani puri)

100 gms steamed moong sprouts (whole green gram)- for the filling

For the sweet water:

½ cup tamarind (discard the seeds, if any) – soaked in some water overnight

About 5-6 dates – soaked in some water overnight

½ cup grated or crumbled jaggery (soaked in some water till it melts)

½ tsp red chili powder

½ tsp. sugar

For the spicy water:

¾ tbsp ready-made pani puri masala powder (e.g. Everest)- It is easily available in stores

1 tsp. roasted cumin- powdered

Salt to taste

Some ice cubes (optional)

Water

Grind together with a little water:

1 cup finely chopped coriander

1 ½ cups finely chopped mint leaves

1 green chili

¼ inch piece of fresh ginger (peel it and chop it roughly)

If you want you can add some rock salt, black salt, chaat masala, amchur powder etc. for extra flavouring.

Method:

For the sweet water:

Boil the dates in a cooker till tender. discard the pits and grind the dates (adding little water if required).

Boil the tamarind in a cooker. Grind it and strain it to get the pulp.

Mix the tamarind pulp, the jaggery water and the date’s paste. Add the sugar and the red chilli powder and stir to combine. Check seasoning and add salt if required.

For the spicy water:

Add a glassful of water to the coriander-mint paste and stir to mix. Pass this through a mesh (at least twice) to get more or less clear, flavoured water. Add the cumin powder and the ready-made pani puri masala powder to it. Stir to combine and check seasoning. Add salt as per taste. Add water depending on the consistency you require.

Add the ice cubes to both the panis or chill the pani in the refrigerator for a few hours.

You can even combine both the flavoured waters to get one, sweet and spicy water only.

Relish this by cracking open the puri from the top with the back of a spoon. Add some moong in the gap of one puri at a time. Stir the spicy water and dip each puri first into the sweet water and then into the spicy water, filling the puris upto the brim. It will give you a delicious taste of sweet, spicy, tangy and sour flavours in your mouth at the same time.

If you prefer only sweet water then fill the puris with sweet water only and if you like spicy flavour, fill the puris only in the spicy water.

Dipping the puris in flavoured water is the traditional way of enjoying pani puri. But if you do not prefer to do so, simply pour the flavoured waters of your choice into the cracked puris with the help of a spoon.