Masal Puri Chat

Masal Puri is one of the most popular Indian chats. It is often a clever use of those plain golgappas which do not come out 'round' :-) It is a common belief that the Masala Puri prepared at home can never match the taste of that we get on street. Well, while it is true because of quite a few reasons, there are many experiment being done by many enthusiastic household master chefs to get as close as they can to their street counterparts :-) The reasons for the difference in taste is because of the way it is prepared in hotels/streets - large utensils, cooking on high flame, constantly kept on mild heat after cooking, preparation in large quantities which allows for slight variations in proportions of ingredients without actually changing the taste, and most important of all, the perfection attained by them by preparing it day in and day out!!! Below is my experiment which I feel is almost as tasty and I bet you guys too can get to that point after a couple of iterations :-)


Ingredients:
Puri (Golgappa) - 10 (click here for how to prepare Puri)
Sweet and sour chutney* - 1 tbsp
Green chutney* - 1 tbsp
Masala* - 1 cup
Onion - 1/4 cup (Chop vertically into slender long pices)
Boiled and smashed Potato - 1/2 cup (Optional)
Shredded Carrot - 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves Chopped - 1 tbsp (Optional)
Sev - 1/4 cup

*Note - The descriptions are given under procedure. The quantity of ingredients serves two.

Ingredients for Masala:
Green peas - 1/2 cup (If you have dry green peas soak it over night)
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 1/2 ''
Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Peppercorns - 1/8 tsp
Star anise / Marathi moggu - 1/8 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1 tsp

Procedure:

• Dry roast all spices - Cloves,Cinnamon,Cumin seeds,Peppercorns,Star anise,and Coriander seeds. Grind it with coconut and red chilli powder to a paste.
• Pressure cook Toor dal and green peas together and pour into a thick bottom pan and add the ground spices to it. Add salt and allow to boil for 5mins . Smash it lightly.

Ingredients for Sweet and Sour Chutney :

Tamarind juice - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Cumin Powder - 1 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Black salt - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Pepper - 1/4 tsp

Procedure:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. You can add an extra bit of any ingredient as per your taste.

Ingredients for Green Chutney:
Coriander leaves - 1 cup
Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2
Ginger - 1/2'' piece
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Roasted Bengal gram - 1 tbsp
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Procedure:

• Mix coriander leaves , mint leaves , green chilli , ginger , cumin seeds , Roasted Bengal gram , and salt in a blender jar and blend it.
• Add lemon juice and blend it again, You can also add little water and blend to get a smooth paste.

Serving:

• Put Puris in to a plate and crush it
• Add Peas and Toor dal masala, Sweet chutney , Green chutney , Carrot , Onion , Smashed potato, Sev and Coriander leaves and server it hot.