Bangarpet Pani Puri......quite a unique Chaat!!

I don't think that any one needs an introduction to pani puri/golgappa. It is a popular and well known "chaat" with minor variations all over India but today I am going to introduce a different and unique style of pani puri called as 'Bangarpet Pani puri'.This chat originated from a place called Bangarpet,a small town in Karnataka.

I know you must be wondering what is so special about this pani puri? Well.....the pani is COLORLESS but is quite pungent and flavorful and also tingles your taste buds to the core.Even the filling is quite different from the regular golgappa as we use green peas and carrot in the filling which is not so common in regular golgappa.If the pani is served in a clean glass, one can't identify whether it is pani or real water until and unless they taste or smell it.Though I could not recreate colorless pani, I recreated the original taste of Bangarpet pani after repeated attempts with the recipe which I got from my mom.

Bangarpet is a small town in Kolar district near Bangalore,which is my birth place.I have lots of memories associated with this place.Every year I used to look forward for school holidays to visit Bangarpet.Meeting cousins,gossiping,playing,eating..and what not? those were the fun days of my life.We cousins,a gang of 10 used to have a blast during our every visit to Bangarpet.Though we were all cranky about few food stuffs,once we land up there we all would have one common interest ie.'Bangarpet pani puri'.Every evening we used to make a compulsory trip to a famous chaat shop and used to enjoy those delicious pani puris. It used to cost us just two rupees per plate and you can imagine one can have a feast with just few bucks..aah those were the days!!!

As I am already in my childhood mood, let me continue the story.We, cousins had three different gangs divided according to our age group. On any given day, you would find us (all our groups including my aunts & uncles) but at different timings in that famous pani puri shop and the best part is that we never used to tell each other that we had gone there. If we ever say no to dinner at home then we could get caught that we had overeaten our pani puri, so we were forced to eat some dinner in order to escape scoldings from the elders. As I grew eating this, I am very fond of this and just love it very much. If I ever have to choose only one most favorite chaat item, I would choose this for sure with out a second thought. Forgot to mention,Bangarpet is also famous for Masala puri(which is my 2nd most favorite chaat) ,Gulkhand,Bajji masala and Masala Soda.
Now I really miss the place as every one has shifted to Bangalore.Even today if any of our family members visit Bangarpet,they will always carry back Bangarpet pani puri for all, which is few buckets of puris(those are special crisp puris) and bottles of litres of pani and the filling green peas masala.Though there are few shops opened in Bangalore and other areas,nothing tastes as good as the original Bangarpet pani puri.

To tell you more about our love for this pani puri,we generally make this for either dinner or breakfast more than a evening chaat.Yes!! you heard it correct we eat it as breakfast or dinner,I know it might be bit weird but we love it very much that a small plate of pani puri is not enough for our cravings.Ready made puris were not available in the earlier days,so my mom used to make even puris at home and it was a rule that she has to make this at least twice a month.
After writing all this I have become more nostalgic about this pani puri.This post is due in my blog from several days as I was waiting for an appropriate opportunity to post my favorite chaat and I find this is the perfect time to post this entry during my 'Family Food-Tasty Thursdays' series which I am hosting with my cousins.Let us peep into the recipe before you get bored of my stories.

Bangarpet Pani Puri Recipe:
(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

for Puris:
50 puris recipe here (I used Store bought ones)

for Bangarpet Pani:
1 litre Water(mineral water preferably)
20-25 pods of Garlic,with skin but clean the extra layers(refer notes)
10-12 Green chillies
2 " fresh Ginger
2 " Cinnamon
10 Black peppercorns
1 tbsp Saunf
2 tsp Black salt
2 tsp Lemon salt/Citric acid crystals
2 tsp chopped Coriander
2 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste

for Green peas-Potato Stuffing:
1 cup dried Green peas
2 medium Potatoes
Salt to taste

for Carrot-Onion mixture:
2 Carrots,peeled and grated
1 Onion,finely chopped
2 tbsp Coriander,finely chopped

Method:

Puris:

• I used store bought ones,if you want to make at home please follow this recipe.

Bangarpet Pani:

• Grind cinnamon,blacksalt,peppercorns,saunf,lemon salt and regular salt to a coarse powder.
• Add green chillies,chopped ginger and garlic pods and turn in whipper mode to a slight coarse masala,it should not become paste.So take care not to run for long time.
• Drop the mixture in a potli bag(muslin cloth) and make it into a potli and drop it in 1 litre water and keep it aside for 4-5 hrs until the water is infused with the spices from the potli bag.You can even rest this in refrigerator.

• Now take out the potli and add sugar to it and mix well.
• In a small bowl take coriander and add 1/4 cup water and slightly press coriander with hands until you get the flavor of coriander infused into the water.Strain the water and discard all the coriander and add this coriander flavored water to the pani.
• Now check the taste of pani and add extra water(you might need to add 1/2 litre water approximately) to it to suit your taste buds.Adjust the salt,sugar and lemon salt as per your taste.This would be generally not spicy in one sip,the spicyness increases gradually as you keep eating,So make it in moderate spice level.(Add more water if the pani is extremely spicy.You need to balance all the flavors salt,spice,sweetness and pungency according to your taste buds.)
  
• You can keep in refrigerator if you need or serve it at room temperature.

Green peas-Potato stuffing:

• Soak peas overnight and wash them couple of times and arrange it in a bowl in the cooker.Cover it with lid.
• Place the potatoes over the plate and pressure cook for 2-3 whistles.
• Once the pressure drops,take out one cup of green peas and keep it aside.
• Remove the skin of potatoes and mash it with hands roughly,do not mash it finely.
• Add the potatoes to the remaining peas mixture and again heat this mixture on stove.Add salt to it and mix well and cook until one boil.Mix the boiled peas which we kept aside.Switch if off and let it be warm.Keep the potato-peas mixture slightly thinner as it gets thickened over time.It is important to keep this mixture warm for a perfect Bangarpet pani puri taste.
  

Carrot-Onion mixture:

• Mix grated carrots with finely chopped onions and coriander in a bowl until it is mixed properly.Keep it aside covered.

Assembling Bangarpet Pani Puri:

• Take each puri and poke it gently and stuff with 1/2 tbsp peas-potato mixture and 1/2 tsp carrot-onion mixture and dip it in the spicy pani and just gobble in.
• I think now I don't need to say anything more as you would be busy eating them.

Notes:

1. The original Bangarpet pani has no color,however I tried to recreate the same it gets some sort of yellowish-green color.
2. I used Indian garlic.So please remember that if you are using big sized garlic pods what you get outside India,use 8-10 pods of garlic as they are big in size.If you are skeptical about garlic flavor,reduce to 6 pods.
   
3. You can keep the pani refrigerated up to a week and use it when required.
4. please remember that this pani gradually tastes spicy after every puri,so try to adjust the pani according to your taste buds.
5. Dried green peas is a must for this recipe,however if you do not get use fresh peas.But it does not give the taste what the dried green peas give.
6. The green peas masala should be slightly mushy,thats the reason I mixed few green peas at the end once everything is mixed.
7. Do not spice up your green peas masala,just season it with salt to enjoy the real taste of Bangarpet pani puri.
8. Please do not try adding chaat masala as the pani has some peculiar flavor which has its own identity.

This is how it should be served.

Ready to be eaten pani puri..yummy..:)
I would like to dedicate this post to all my cousins for our fond memories of Bangarpet.