Cooks Joy

This is a special post for our friend PJ who is expecting her second child soon. We were pretty excited to hear the news and wanted to celebrate the same. So the blogging marathon group decided to have a virtual baby shower for which we made a dish from her blog. Wishing PJ a safe delivery and to celebrate I chose to make pani puri that is a famous chaat. It is also known as Gol Gappe.

Since there were too many pictures I split the puri and the chutney into two posts. Make the tamarind and green chutney as shown here. For the pani puri, dilute the green chutney to get the spicy water.

Although pani puri is famous, I have not tasted it. I know that must come as a surprise to a few and that is one of the main reasons I wanted to try it out. The process was long, but I thoroughly enjoyed making it. I made the chutney and the filling first. Then, I started making the dough and used coarse sooji since that is what I had on hand. Well that was a big mistake because the dough did not bind and was crumbly. If I had not made the filling, I would have started on something else. Thankfully my friend Shy came to the rescue. I immediately rushed to her place and got some fine sooji and all went well. This was one of the moments I regretted not having an Indian store close by since the closest one is 3 hours away

The next incident is a bit funny. I had the filling and the chutney piled up on the counter top. K looked at it and asked what I was making and I told him pani puri. He looked at me in a rather weird way and started asking me whether I knew that the puri should puff up for pani puri. I just kept listening

. He continued and asked in a serious tone whether I also knew that the puffed puris need to remain like that. I started laughing and all this is from someone who has not tasted it either. Most of the puris puffed up and my daughter enjoyed the ones which did not puff up right away. For this the puris need to be rolled out thin. As you can see mine is slightly on the thicker side since this was the first time I was making it. We enjoyed the new dish and the kids also had fun filling it up. Recipe from PJ. Off to the recipe.

Ingredients - For Filling
Potato Filling
3 potatoes boiled and mashed
Salt
Chilly powder

Lentil Filling
1 cup boiled garbanzo (channa)
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp chili powder
Pinch of turmeric powder
1/4 tsp garam masala

Ingredients – For the puri
4 tbsp maida/all purpose flour
1/2 cup fine rava/suji
Pinch of baking powder
Salt to taste
2 tsp oil
Wheat flour- a little for dusting
Oil for frying

Method – Filling
Boil potatoes and mash.