Pani Puri for ICC and my 50th post

Just by hearing the name of pani puri I start drooling.  My elder son & I, both love pani puri.  That's why when I saw Srivalli's Indian Cooking Challenge for this month I decided this will be my 50th post.

Here is the simple recipe of Pani Puri.

Ingredients:

For making Puris

1/2 cup Sooji (Semolina )

1/2 tbsp Maida ( Plain Refined Flour)

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Salt to taste

Oil for Frying

For Spicy water:

1 1/2 cups Chopped Mint Leaves
1 tbsp Chopped Coriander Leaves
1/3 cup Tamarind
1" Ginger
4-5 Green Chillies
1 tsp Ground Cumin Seed (roasted)

1 1/2 tsp Kala Namak (Black Salt )

Salt to taste

For filling

1 Boiled Potato finely chopped /mashed

Salt to taste
Red chilli.
For Red Tamarind Chutney
1 cup Tamarind
1/2 cup Jaggery
2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Dry Roasted cumin powder
1/4 tsp Kali Mirch (Black pepper) powder
2 cloves
2 cups Warm water
1 tsp Oil
Salt to taste

Method:
For Puris:
In a bowl take semolina, plain flour, Cooking Soda, salt, 2 tablespoons of oil and knead well to make a stiff dough, leave it bit stiffer than normal.
Cover it with a wet muslin cloth and let it rest for 15 mins.
Then pinch out very small balls and roll them into small circles.
Remember you will be eating these as whole, so make small circles
Put the rolled out circles back under the muslin cloth while you are rolling the rest and before they can be fried.
Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan, deep fry the puris.
The idea is to puff them and fry them till golden brown.
Take them out and put them on kitchen paper towel, to get rid of the extra oil.
Allow the puris to cool before storing them in an airtight container. Else they will become soggy.
For making spicy water or Pani
Extract pulp from the tamarind.
Add mint leaves, coriander, ginger, chillies and dry roasted cumin seed to the tamarind pulp. Add little water and blend to a smooth paste.
Add salt and black rock salt to taste.
Put it in the fridge to cool down.
Add water as required.
For making Red Tamarind Chutney
Extract the pulp from tamarind.
In a pan dry roast the cumin seeds and the cloves. Pound them into coarse powder.
To the tamarind pulp add jaggery, sugar, red chilli powder, black pepper powder, roasted cumin powder, cloves and salt.
Put the mixture in a pan and heat for 5 minutes on medium heat.
Remove from heat and let it cool down.
This will tend to thicken up, so add warm water if it becomes too thick.
Once it cools, blend the contents in a blender to a smooth paste.
Assembling the Pani Puri
Poke a small hole in the center of the Puri
Add a tsp of mashed boiled potato in the middle of the puri. Add a little of the red tamarind Chutney.
Dip it in the spicy water / pour some spicy water in it.  The idea is to fill the puri with water.
Gulp it down.  It's challenging here, you have to put the puri in mouth without breaking it.
Have fun.