~*Pani Puri Time*~

Our heart goes out to all the families that were affected by Hurricane Irene. We hope that in time all will settle down and life will go on. 

We weren't sure how we would be affected by the storm, so we kept cooking to a minimum and munched on snacks. 

Dahi Pani Puri

One of my favorites is Pani Puri. I love pani puri because it's easy to assemble and fun to eat. You know the Pringles jingle, “Once you pop, you can't stop”. That's how I feel about this snack too! It’s so delicious and because it’s a light but filling snack made with healthful, all natural ingredients. You can eat loads at a time without feeling guilty. Also did you know, Pani Puri is an inexpensive and popular snack found all over India?  So have a puri, or two or three and be MERRY! 

Ingredients for this popular snack include:

Potato, canned chickpeas/garbanzo beans, pani puri masala, tamarind-date chutney and bite size puris

Procedure: Microwave the potato for 2 to 3 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. Drain and wash the chickpeas. Then mash the potato and chickpeas together to a granulated mixture. Next, dilute the pani puri masala with water to your desired tangy taste (tamarind-date chutney may be mixed in for a bit of sweetness). Now you are ready to enjoy the pani puris. Insert a hole into the puri without breaking through it completely. 

The Puri never had a chance!

Then scoop a bit of the potato and chickpea mixture into the puri and fill it up with the pani puri masala liquid (also known the "pani"). Next, quickly put the whole puri inside your mouth and crunch away. Hint: Don't eat the puri in two bites because all the stuffing will fall apart and you'll create a mess. Make sure to eat the puri in one go (as illustrated above).

***Quick Tip: 

- Alternately if pani puri masala is not available, the combination of tamarind and coriander chutneys and diluted plain yogurt can be used.

- For a more tangy or chatpata taste, sprinkle chat masala over the potato and chickpea mixture. 

Hawa Hawaii Pooris

Whenever we have a craving to eat chole curry, we love eating it with pooris. *Pooris are another type of Indian flat breads which are made with wheat flour. If you have perfected or at least practiced the technique of making dough for chappati or roti, then making dough for pooris is a cinch. The following videos are broken down into easy-to-follow steps from making the dough to frying the pooris. We love eating pooris on cool and breezy nights when we want to eat some warm comfort food. Now with summer around the corner, pooris can also be enjoyed with mango pulp or puree.

Step 1: In a mixing bowl, mix together (3) cups of wheat flour, (1.5) tablespoons of oil, and less than 1 cup of water.

Once you are finished making the dough, you can make the dough balls. These will be rolled out and fried in the hot oil. 

Now you are ready to roll out the poori dough balls and fry in the hot oil. Hint: You can drop a tiny ball of dough in the oil to see if it's hot enough to fry the pooris. You will know it's hot enough when the tiny ball comes up to the top and you see bubbles. 

Just look at those fluffy pooris floating in the hot oil! Don't let the poori sit in the oil too long; otherwise it will soak up the oil and it will taste oily and heavy. You just have to flip it once or twice until it puffs up and is ready to be whisked out of the pan and into the drying bowl. Then just add it to the pile of hot pooris in your serving dish.

***Quick Tip: 
- For fluffy pooris add a little bit of milk when making the dough. 
- We used Deep Foods Whole wheat flour to make these fluffy pooris. This multi-purpose flour can be used to make dough for chappati, roti, poori and paratha.

Fun Fact: The title for this post was inspired by one of my favorite songs from a Bollywood movie called Mr. India and the song's name is "Hawa Hawaii".