Pani Puri- Bangarpet style

This style of pani puri is very close to my heart, originated in Bangarpet; a splendid busy town in the Kolar district of Karnataka. It’s also my grandparents place and associates me with a lot of childhood memories. Every summer we savored these delicious pani puri’s from the local vendor, who takes the credit to create these splendors. The specialty of this variety is the transparent pani which almost looks like water. This makes a good appetizer for party’s and potlucks. Also, the pani can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.

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PREPARATION TIME: 45 minutes with an overnight steep

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE TRANSPARENT PANI:

• 6 cups of hot water
• 30 green chillies slit
• 5 inches of ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1 tspn of citric acid
• 2 tspn of salt
• 3 cloves
• 1-star anise
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbspn. of cumin
• ½ tspn.  ground pepper

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METHOD:

• Heat 6 cups of water in a vessel, bring it to boil and set it aside
• To the hot water, add green chillies, ginger, citric acid, salt, cloves, star anise, garlic, cumin and ground pepper.
• Mix well, cover and rest it covered on the kitchen counter overnight or 10 hours.

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• Let it steep well so that the water absorbs all the goodness from the added ingredients.
• After 10 hours, strain the water to a glass container or bowl and save the leftover ingredients. Store the glass jar in the refrigerator.
•  Few hours before consuming the Pani, mix it with some water, a little salt and warm the pani and set it aside to get it to room temperature. It is best at its taste when tasted with warm pani.

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TO MAKE THE MASALA FILLING:

• 2 cups of frozen green peas/ dry peas soaked overnight and cooked
• 2 green chillies, 4-5 pieces of ginger, 1 garlic, 2 cloves and 1-star anise from the saved pani mixture.
• ½ tspn chaat masala
• ½ cup of pani
• ½ cup of roasted gram
• 2 fists of coriander
• Salt to taste

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METHOD:

• Blend the green chillies, ginger, garlic, cloves, star anise, roasted gram and coriander to fine paste.

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• Heat a pan, add the frozen green peas, the blended paste, ½ cup of pani and ½ cup of plain water and mix well.
• Let it cook for 10-15 minutes, meanwhile mash the peas with a masher.
• Finish off by adding chat masala and salt.
• The filling should look thicker and mushier.

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TO MAKE THE CORIANDER CUTNEY:

• 2 green chillies, 4-5 pieces of ginger, 1 garlic from the saved pani mixture.
• 3 fists of coriander
• ½ onion diced
• 1 tspn. of cumin
• Salt to taste

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METHOD:

• Blend the green chillies, ginger, garlic, coriander, onion, cumin and salt to a fine paste.
• Add little water to get the right green chutney consistency. This can be refrigerated for a week if stored in an airtight container.

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ASSEMBLING THE PURI’s

• Finely chop onions, coriander and grated carrots and set it aside.
•   Take a puri and knock off the top part to fill the peas mixture, add a drop of green chutney, add chopped onions, grated carrot and sprinkle some thin sev and coriander. Repeat this until a few more puri’s.
• You may choose to use tamarind chutney if required, although it’s best when spicy.
• Serve with warm pani and enjoy this delicious Bangarpet Pani Puri.

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