Pain Puri (A Must Try Indian Street Food)

Pani puri is a ubiquitous Indian street food that varies slightly from region to region but is loved and adored by Indians and Nepalis in all of its forms.

Pani Puri is so prominent in the street food scene throughout India that each region has their own name for it. In West Bengal and Nepal it is often referred to as “Phuchka”. In Uttar Pradesh it is called “Golgappa”. In other regions it may go by the names of “Gupchup”, “Pakodi”. “Fulki” or “Paani Ke Patashe”. Each region has its own nuanced way of making Pani Puri but anyway you cut it it is as much a staple of Indian street food as Chai Garam, Jhal Muri and Pan Masala.

I’ll admit that as a foreigner living in India it took me a while to appreciate the joy of eating Pani Puri. Even today I have my own preference for fillings, though I believe that is standard for any fan of this delicacy. I have seen foreigners endeavor to try Pani Puri only to make the most amusing facial expressions while seeking the most suitable location to spit it out.

To see a Pani Puri being prepared for the loving masses on the streets of India as a foreigner is certainly a sight to behold. Young school students on their way home from class will gather around the seller’s cart in droves, eagerly begging for another and another and another until they are filled to their heart’s content.

My Western eyes took one look at that disgusting-looking green sewer water with floating peas and immediately turned my nose up in protest. Watching someone eat Pani Puri hurriedly so as not to lose too much of that filthy looking soup from the crispy egg shaped vessel, dripping down their hand as they whisk it into their mouths with a squishy crunch, did not encourage me to try it one bit!

Oh, but the look of joy on their faces afterward and their immediate insistence on one after the other did intrigue me and eventually, after some years of living there, I put my big boy britches on and braved the minty pea-filled waters of the famous Pani Puri. When in Rome, right?

To be honest, it was not love at first sight. Like many things I ate in India over the years, it certainly was an acquired taste and it took some time for it to grow on me. Now, I can say that I genuinely enjoy Pani Puri but I do believe nostalgia plays a role in my enjoyment of this strange condiment filled crisp.

What is Pani Puri? It is an oval shaped crispy fried “puri” made of Semolina and flour. The inside is hollow and the street vendor is often seen with a large see-through garbage bag filled to the top with these innocuous looking fried treats. On their cart is where the frightening looking soup or “pani” and other condiments such as boiled potatoes, diced onion, tamarind sauce and “boondi” (sweet pea sized balls made from chickpea flour) are strategically placed.

The vendor takes an individual puri from the large sack, presses his thumb down in the middle, breaking a hole in the center and creating a vessel ready to be filled with the condiments of your choice. I personally like the “aloo” (spicy boiled potato) with the green pani, boondi and plenty of tamarind sauce in mine.

The trick to eating it is to take it as quickly from the vendor as possible after being constructed and shove it into your mouth before the contents seep out from the underside of the puri. This is an art and there is no attractive way of doing this, which is something I love about India. Sometimes all pretense of etiquette as we know it in the west is thrown out the window in the name of pure enjoyment. Anyway, shake off the mess on your hand onto the street, rinse and repeat.

Recently, my wife and I tried a Pani Puri kit we had bought at an Indian grocery store. Other than the potatoes, which is easy enough to make, the kit has everything you need. It was a true pleasure sitting at the table with the items laid out before us making pani puri after pani puri, enjoying something that I thought we would never be having while living here in the rural south of the United States.

The kit is made by Haldiram’s and if you have an Indian grocery store nearby, you should definitely give it a try. I guarantee you have never eaten anything like it.