Paani poori!

If you know me, you will know that I am a chaat-crazy person. I love most varieties of chaat, especially those sinfully delicious concoctions that some people make at home. Very few things in life cheer me up as much as the prospect of eating chaat for breakfast, lunch or dinner – yes, I am quite capable of doing that! I can’t get enough of pani pooris, and they are my go-to comfort food when I need perking up or whenever my taste buds crave a change from the routine. And, this chaat bug is not something that has bitten me recently!

Hygiene concerns forced Amma to learn how to make pani pooris at home when I was a school-going kid, from a Gujarati neighbour, and she perfected the recipe over time. Over the years, I began making it myself, adding my own little touches to it. The OH loves the version that I make, and so does his family. So, whenever I make pani pooris at home, it is in huge quantities, which is later packed into a number of dabbas and sent off to respective homes. 🙂

Here is the recipe that I commonly use for making the pani pooris.

Ingredients:

Store-bought pani pooris

For the aloo stuffing:

4-5 medium-sized potatoes (boiled, skinned and mashed)

Chaat masala to taste

Finely chopped coriander

About a tablespoon of jeera powder

1 cup of red chana (boiled)

Salt to taste

Method: Take everything in a large bowl. Mix well, using your hands. Set aside.

For the spicy (green) paani:

A fistful of fresh mint leaves, cleaned

A fistful of fresh coriander leaves, cleaned

Black salt to taste

Lemon juice to taste

Chaat masala to taste

About 3 green chillies (or depending upon your tolerance to spice)

Method: Grind the mint leaves, coriander leaves and green chillies to a paste, in a mixer, using a bit of water. Take this paste in a large bowl and add water till you get the desired consistency. Add black salt, chaat masala and lemon juice to taste. Keep aside.

For the sweet and sour (imli) chutney:

A lemon-sized ball of tamarind

Crushed jaggery to taste

About a tablespoon of jeera powder

Method: Soak the tamarind in warm water for a few minutes, till it becomes soft. Squeeze out all the juice from the tamarind, using water, little by little. Strain out the impurities from the tamarind paste. Heat the paste in a deep-bottomed pan, with the crushed jaggery. Let it cook till the tamarind loses its raw smell. When it is almost done, add the jeera powder. Take the pan off heat, and let the paste cool. Add water to bring the consistency to the desired level.

Assembling:

Make small holes in the pani pooris and fill aloo stuffing inside them. Put in spoonfulls of the sweet and sour paani and the spicy, green pani over the stuffing. Eat!