Week 41: Pani Puri Marathon

For those who have stumbled on my blog just today, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year wherein I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

The last week's food trip was not enough that this weekend we headed out to an Indian Restaurant. It would have been a normal outing until I saw pani puri on the buffet menu and trust me I could not have been happier.

It was the first time I was eating pani puri in the US, almost 2 plus years now. Though the pani puri was not as yummy as the street food of Pune, it was good enough to tantalize my taste buds. A typical pani puri of Pune consists of sour and sweet tamarind chutney, spicy chilly water, mashed potatoes, crunchy Indian snack called sev, semolina puri and white peas masala. You fill in all the stuffing in a hollow puri and then put the entire puri in your mouth with a volcano of vivid tastes bursting on your tongue. Eternal bliss!

A typical pani puri in Pune looks like this and it provides all taste sensations at one time. Image Source

This is how you gulp the explosive puri. Image Source

Now that you know what a pani puri is all about, I can give you an account of the pani puri which I had at Indus Herbal and Indian Cuisine. Of course, it was not served by any food vendor to me but it was on the buffet menu and I had to prepare my own pani puris. I took tamarind chutney, the potato and chickpea filling, chilly water and of course puris in my plate and set to the task of being a pani puri vendor for the day ;)

That is my vendor's plate. I actually had 10+ puris on the plate, but I removed them to look a little sophisticated for my blog ;)

It is difficult to take a picture of your food with just one hand, not to forget the temptation of gulping that yummy food.

I prepared pani puris for Sujoy first and then sat back and went on a hogging trail with a marathon of puris. I do not know how much I ate but it was enough to stir a buzz amongst the other people around having their food. But when pani puri is on the plate, who cares about the onlookers :P

Till I go next to Pune and relish this delicacy, cheers to such small moments of happiness which make staying so far away from your home a little easier :)