Indian Starters – Pani Puri Recipe
Whether you’re a major fan of Indian street food/indian starters, or quite a newbie to the spicy delights, pani puri are a favourite for most! In India you are likely to find street vendors in every area of the city selling these bad boys, they’re great for a quick fix of spicy, tangy flavours and crunch.
What is Pani Puri?
So for the newbies to Indian street food, we hear you asking – but what is pani puri? Pani puri is an Indian street food snack… starting with a fried, round hollow puri which is filled with a potato and chick pea mix (some even add sprouted moong) you then add flavoured water which gives that tangy sweetness to the spiced mix.
Now comes the best part – eating your puri…
Once you’ve added your water mix to the puri, you have seconds to eat it, and no no, you cannot just bite into the puri or you’ll be covered in spicy water and totally missed the best part of the puri! What you need to do, is eat that puri in one go, they’re only bite-sized anyway. It’s like an explosion of flavours and crunch that just keeps you wanting more!
Serving Indian starters?
Now if you’re throwing a party, or maybe you’re hosting an event where you serve canapés, pani puri is an Indian starter which will get anyone’s mouth-watering. It’s something a little different and fun to serve. We have a recipe here for you to make these explosions of joy at home:
Recipe for Pani Puri
The puri – you can get these from Chandras
Ingredients for Pani (water mix) –
- Mint leaves -1 cup
- Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
- Tamarind/imli – a lemon size ball
- Grated ginger – 1 tbsp
- Green chilies – 3
- Cumin seeds powder/jeera powder – 1 tsp
- Black pepper powder – 1 tsp
- Salt to taste
Method:
1) Soak the tamarind in 1/2 cup of warm water for 30 minutes. Strain out all the pulp and keep the water aside.
2) Combine this tamarind water with mint leaves, green chilies, ginger, coriander leaves and grind to a fine paste.
3) Transfer the paste into a large bowl and combine with 1L of water, black pepper powder, jeera powder and salt and mix well.
4) Chill this water for a few hours. (Adding ice will dilute the mix, so best to keep it in the fridge)
Ingredients for Pani Puri potato mix
- Sweet tamarind chutney (you can buy this at most supermarkets/Indian grocers)
- Peeled, Boiled and mashed potatoes – ½ cup
- Boiled channa (chick peas) – ½ cup
- Onion – 1 (chopped finely)
- Salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon of pani puri masala powder
Method:
- Combine mashed potatoes, channa and chopped onions in a bowl.
- Add salt and masala to bowl and mix
Assembling your Pani Puris
You can either do this for your guests, or it can also be fun to place all elements of pani puri out and your guests can help themselves. Just remember the puri needs to be eaten as soon as you add the pani! First – Crack a small hole in the centre of each puri. Then fill with the mashed potato mix, top it with a little sweet tamarind chutney, pour the pani mix into the puri and eat straight away
These really are a fun Indian starter to serve at any event/ house party. We hope you enjoy!
We also have other Indian starters available, order here.