Pani Puri

Ingredients

For 4 portions

• 🥔 300g potato
• 🫘 150g chickpeas, canned
• 🫛 40g tamarind
• 🥤 750ml tap water
• 🌿 5g cumin powder
• 🌿 1 Tsp chaat masala
• 🧂 1 Tsp black salt (kala namak)
• 🧂 0.5 Tsp salt
• 🌿 20g fresh coriander
• 🌶️ 5g chilli paste
• 🌶️ 15g green chilli peppers
• 🌿 15g fresh mint
• 🍯 15g jaggery

Method

1. You also need about 30 ready-made pani puri (golgappa) shells from an Indian grocer.
2. Filling: boil the potatoes in their skins for 20–25 minutes until tender. Cool, peel and mash with the drained chickpeas, finely chopped green chilli, half the cumin, the chaat masala, ½ tsp of the black salt and half the chopped coriander.
3. Pani: soak the tamarind in 150 ml warm water for 10 minutes, squeeze and strain, discarding the seeds and fibres.
4. Blend the mint, the remaining coriander and the chilli paste with 100 ml of the water until completely smooth.
5. Mix the green paste with the tamarind water, the remaining 500 ml cold water, the jaggery, the rest of the cumin, the rest of the black salt and the ordinary salt. Taste – it should be sharp, spicy, tangy and slightly sweet. Chill for at least 30 minutes (add a few ice cubes if you're short of time).
6. Just before eating, crack a small hole in the top of each puri with your thumb.
7. Spoon in a little potato-chickpea filling, then dip into or pour in the cold pani.
8. Eat immediately in one bite, before the shell softens. Keep the pani and filling in separate bowls so everyone can fill their own.