Indian street food - Masala puri (Indian chaat)

Street foods are the ones sold by vendors from portable stalls. They are seen in any road corners or beach sides or parks in India.They are extremely popular here and they are very affordable.Most of them are regional ones like the onion/raw banana bhajji, dosa, idly in Chennai or the pesarattu in Andhra or vada pav in Mumbai or chats n jelabi in Delhi, but these have spread beyond the region of origin. Now we tend to taste the best of bhel puri of the North in Chennai and vice verse.

The love for food and migration of people to different parts of the world has diversified the regional cuisines to international ones. Any kid living in India would explain in detail the taste of Mexican tacos or the stir fried Chinese noodles or the gorgeous Italian Tiramasu. The food indeed has made the world a smaller place to live in and everyone can taste different cuisines straight from home.

Talking about street foods, I am now reminded of pani puris. I want to re-create that in my kitchen but with little modification.The post for today is my version of a typical Indian chat. My own chatpata puris!

Ingredients

For the puris :

• 1/2 cup sooji/semolina/rava
• 1 tbs all purpose flour / maida
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200ml hot water
• Fresh Refined Oil for frying

For the chutney:

• 1/2 cup pudina/mint leaves
• 1/2 cup coriander leaves
• 1/2 lemon size tamarind
• 1/4 cup jaggery
• 5-6 dates
• 5 green chillies
• A pinch of salt
• 100ml water

Other ingredients:

• 1 packet Aloo bhujjia
• 1 cup chopped cucumber
• 1 cup finely chopped onions
• 1/2 cup mashed potato
• 1/2 cup chopped coriander

Method

For the puris:

Transfer the semolina to a fresh bowl and add the salt. Mix them with hands and pour the hot water little by little. Knead them well for 5-10min. The dough will be sticky now.

Sprinkle little all-purpose flour to reduce the stickiness. Knead them again for 3-5 min. The more you knead the dough; the more better the puris will fluff out. Add abut 2-3 tsp oil and again knead them for 5 min. Let them sit for 30min. It should be a medium tight dough.

Apply oil on to your working surface and roll them like rotis. Roll the dough very thin. Don't use the flour to turn around when you roll.

Use the 1.5cm or less diameter caps of any bottles as molds to cut out the dough.

Deep fry them in hot oil.Cool them and store in an air tight container.

For the sweet/tangy/spicy chutney:

Grind all chutney ingredients to a watery liquid. Adjust the sweetness with more/less jaggery or dates.

Assembling:

Place the crispy puris on a platter. Press the centre of the puri with your fingers and make into a hole (big enough to stuff the vegetables).
Place little amount of mashed potato inside, followed by cucumber, onions and aloo bhujjia. Pour in the sauce and place a small corainder leaf on top.Keep aside.
Make about 10 at a time and serve immediately; otherwise it will get soggy.

Enjoy with hot masala chai!

Note: Aloo bhujjia is a spicy potato noodles and they are available in all the Indian grocery shops.