✓ Pani Puri is one of the most popular and famous street foods of India, it consists of a round, hollow puri, (fried until it's crisp) which is filled with a spiced potato & chickpea mixture & then topped with flavoured water ("pani"),
On this occasion we visit Mumbai Express in Kingsbury to get a "Pani Puri" + learn some of the history of Pani Puri
Whilst watching the whole process; the chef also divulges some of the recipe secrets in making the most authentic and perfect Pani Puri.
We are told that the actual filling is made of:
*Chickpeas
*Kala Chana
*& boiled mashed potato
At the moment (at Mumbai Express) there are 5 different flavoured waters:
*Hing (Asafoetida)
*Raw Mango & Green Chilli
*Original Mint Water with Tamarind & Lemon Juice
*Roasted Garlic
*Spicy Sweet (with Tamarind Chutney) & Ghor (Jaggery)
(but eventually the plan is to have many more varieties of the water):
Can also be topped with chili, Chaat Masala, Chopped Red Onion and Sev.
Different names that Pani Puri have in different parts of India
Puchka: West Bengal, Bangladesh and Assam
Gol Gappe: Northern India
Pakodi: in some interior parts of Gujarat.
Paani ke Patashe: in parts of Haryana
Patashi or Paani ke Batashe: in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh
Gup Chup in: Odisha, South Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Hyderabad, and Telangana
Phulki: in eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh and some area of Nepal.
Tikki: Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh
Padaka: in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
Spicy Water Bombs or Water Balls: in England / UK
Here's a link to their Facebook page: Mumbai Express Flavours of Paani Puri
Mumbai Express is located at 513 Kingsbury Rd, London NW9 9EG
(How to find them: if you exit out of Kingsbury tube station, turn right and the 6th shop you come to is Delight Food & Wine; this is where you'll find them).
Thank you to Chef Durgesh Mishra, Nilesh Bhai & Mitesh Bhai.
(Video recorded on Friday 19th June 2015).