Party pani puri
- Portion size: Makes 30 pani puri
- Hands-on time 40 min, oven time 20 min
- Difficulty: medium
Pani means water in Hindi and puri shells are fried crackers made from chickpea flour. Pani puri is a popular Indian street food that sees these crisp shells filled with a spiced chickpea and potato mixture, tamarind chutney and a coriander dressing.
In Georgina Hayden‘s own words: ”Trays of crunchy, tangy little pani puri that guests can assemble themselves make the perfect nibble and ice breaker with drinks.”
Ingredients
- 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 large potato (around 200g), peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
- Vegetable oil for drizzling
- 1 heaped tsp chaat masala – we used Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients
- ⅓ bunch fresh coriander, leaves picked and roughly chopped
- Seeds from 1 pomegranate
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- 30 puri shells (see Know-how)
For the tamarind and date chutney
- 3 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- 3 tbsp tamarind paste
- 3 tbsp jaggery or soft light brown sugar (see Know-how)
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- 3.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
For the pani (flavoured water)
- ⅔ bunch fresh coriander
- 2 tbsp jaggery or soft light brown sugar (see Know-how)
- 3.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- A few fresh mint sprigs, leaves picked and roughly chopped
- 2 green chillies, trimmed, deseeded and roughly chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin
You’ll also need…
- Blender, food processor or mini food processor
Method
- Heat the oven to 210°C/190°C fan/gas 6½. Put the chickpeas and potato cubes in a roasting tray, drizzle with oil, season, then scatter over the chaat masala. Toss together and roast for 20 minutes or until golden and a little crisp. Remove from the oven and cool (see Make Ahead). Toss the cooled mixture with coriander, pomegranate seeds and red onion.
- For the chutney, put the dates in the blender/food processor with 100ml freshly boiled water to soak. After 5 minutes, add the tamarind paste, 3 tbsp jaggery/sugar, ground coriander and half the ginger. Whizz until smooth, adding more water as needed to form a thick dressing. Spoon into a bowl.
- For the pani, put the coriander, 2 tbsp jaggery/sugar, ginger, mint, chillies, cumin and 150ml tepid water in the blender/processor (no need to clean). Whizz until blended and smooth. Add 100-200ml more tepid water to form a thin dressing (see Make Ahead).
- Serve puri shells (see Know-how) with bowls of the chickpea mixture, tamarind chutney and coriander dressing and let guests fill their own.
Nutrition
- 67kcals Calories
- 1.9g (0.2g saturated) Fat
- 1.5g Protein
- 10.4g (4.8g sugars) Carbs
- 1.3g Fibre
- 0.1g Salt
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