Snacks & Street Food
Pani Puri
पानीपुरी
Known in Nepal simply as puri, this is the country's most sociable street snack: a hollow crisp shell cracked open, loaded with potato and chickpea, then dunked in cold spiced water and eaten whole before it collapses. Nepali vendors tend to pour a sourer, more herbaceous pani than their Indian counterparts, often with a hit of timur, and hand them over one at a time to a small crowd standing around the cart. Ask for dahi puri instead and the water is swapped for yoghurt and tamarind.
- Prep
- 35 min
- Cook
- 0 min
- Total
- 35 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Medium
At the stove
Method
Blend the mint, coriander, green chillies and tamarind pulp with a splash of water into a smooth green paste.
Whisk the paste into the chilled water with the roasted cumin, timur, black salt and lime juice. Taste it — the pani should be aggressively sour, salty and cold, since the shell dilutes it.
Strain the water if you prefer it clear, then chill it thoroughly. Some vendors drop in a few boiled chickpeas or chopped coriander at this stage.
Mash the potatoes coarsely and mix with the chickpeas, onion, chaat masala, chilli powder and a little salt. Keep the filling at room temperature.
Check the shells are properly crisp; refresh them for two minutes in a low oven if they have softened.
Working one at a time, tap a hole in the thinner side of a shell with your thumb, taking care not to crack it apart.
Spoon in a teaspoon of the potato mixture, then dip the whole shell into the cold pani so it fills to the brim.
Eat it immediately, in one mouthful. Assemble the next only when the last is gone — pani puri does not survive waiting.
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