The History of Panipuri

Panipuri

Panipuri
Alternative names	Pani Ke Patashe, Phuchka, Gup Chup, Paani Poori, Pani ke Bataashe, Pakodi, Gol GappA, Ghopcha.
Type	Snack
Place of origin	India and Nepal
Region or state	India, Nepal, Bangladesh
Main ingredients	Flour, spiced water, onions,potatoes, chickpeas
Cookbook:Panipuri   Panipuri

The Panipuri ( pānīpūrī (help·info), Nepali: पानीपूरी, also known as Gol gappa, Urdu: گول گپّے‎, pani ke bataashe,Marathi: पाणीपुरी,Gujarati: પાણી પુરી, term used in Western India, phuchka (Bengali: ফুচকা), or gup chup (Oriya: ଗୁପଚୁପ୍)) is a popular street snack inIndia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. It consists of a round, hollow puri, fried crisp and filled with a mixture of flavored water ("pani"),tamarind chutney, chili, chaat masala, potato, onion and chickpeas. It is generally small enough to fit completely into one's mouth. It is a popular street food dish in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Lucknow, Karachi, Lahore, Chittagong, Dhaka and Kathmandu.

In North India it is known as Gol Gappa. The name 'gol gappa' refers to the crisp sphere (gol) that is placed in the mouth and eaten (gappa) one at a time. Pani comes from the Hindi word for water and puri (or poori) is the name of an Indian bread made by deep frying in oil. Dogras, Kashmiris, Bhaderwahis, Gujjars, Paharis, Ladakhis, Himachalis of North India called it "Gol Gappa'. It is known asbataasha in the Western region of Uttar Pradesh. Bataasha is something which gets smashed with application of a slight pressure; the bataasha gets smashed as soon as it is placed inside the mouth. It is known as Phuchka in Eastern Indian states like Bihar, Jharkhandand West Bengal, also in Bangladesh. Because of the bursting sound in the mouth when it is eaten, called gup chup inOdisha,Hyderabad and South Jharkhand. Gol-Gappa or Pani Pataase in Madhya Pradesh, Gup-Chup or Gol-Gappa or Panipuri inChhattisgarh. In several parts of Gujarat and Kutch. It is commonly known as pakodi (પકોડી), not to be confused with pakoda.

History[edit]

The panipuri originated from the Magadha region of India, present day South Bihar where it is also known as phulki. The English meaning of golgappa is "watery bread" or "crisp sphere eaten." The literal meaning suggests that it may have originated from Varanasi.^[1][2] In Bengal and specifically Kolkata, Phuchka is considered to be the king of this variety of snacks, compared to its cousins like golgappas or panipuris. The filling is made by lightly mashing boiled potatoes with black salt, salt, some spices, a generous portion of tamarind pulp (made by mashing ripe tamarind in tamarind water), chilli (powder/chopped/boiled & pasted). The tamarind water Tetul Jol is made by mixing tamarind and spices/ salt and making a light and tart liquid with water. At some places like Deshpriya Park, a very famous variety is made with sour curd, and called Dahi (curd) Phuchka.

Names[edit]

Its popular names and the area where it is known by this name are:

Name	Region
Pani Ke Patashe	Haryana
Gol Gappa	West Bengal, New Delhi, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh in India; almost everywhere in Pakistan
Pani ke bataashe / Patashi	Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh
Panipuri	Hilly part of neighbouring country Nepal, Maharashtra (Mumbai and all the parts of Maharashtra), Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
Phuchka	West Bengal, Assam (India) and Bangladesh
Gup chup	West Bengal,Odisha, South Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Hyderabad, Telangana
Pakodi	Gujarat (some parts)
Phulki	Terai Part in Nepal, Madhya Pradesh
Tikki	Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh)
Padaka	Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh)
Phulki	Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh)

Presentation[edit]

Panipuri

Home made Panipuri.

Panipuri stall

A plate of Pakistani gol gappas (centre) accompanied with other foods

It all depends on an individual's choice to present panipuris in their own way. One may find different flavors and ingredients involved, but the basic shape, size and its effect remains almost same.

Typically, 4–8 panipuris are served over a portion on a triangular plate made from dry sal leaves. Some places offer panipuris prepared on a whole plate, but the popular way for them to be served is one-at-a-time from a roadside vendor. Customers hold a small plate or bowl (katori) and stand around the vendors cart. The server then starts making one panipuri at a time and gives one to each individual. Panipuri servers have to remember each customer's preferences such as sweetened pani, more filling or extra onions, for example. The server must keep count of how many panipuris each person has had.

Traditionally, panipuris are eaten by placing the entire puri into the mouth in one go and biting into it. This releases a barrage of tastes and textures. Panipuris may be finished off with a cup of the pani, sweetened or made tarter to taste.

Variations[edit]

While many regions in India have their own variations of the panipuri, the most famous ones are from Kolkata, called 'Phuchka'.^[3]

In Lucknow, this dish is known as "Pani ke bataashe", which means a crispy round dish having spicy water inside. A hole is made using a thumb in the "Bataasha" and a small amount of boiled peas is filled inside it and then the "Bataasha" is dipped in the spicy water or "Pani". In the Lucknow region the Pani is prepared using mint, tamarind, asafoetida (hing), black pepper, red chili powder and salt. At Hazratganj in Lucknow you can savour Paanch Swaad Ke bataashe which means the bataashe are served with five differently tasting Pani one after another.

In most parts of India, a panipuri is made with flavoured water. Some examples are imli ka pani (tamarind in water), nimbu ka pani (lemon juice in water), pudine ka pani (mint in water) and khajur ka pani (dates mixed in water). In West Bengal, Odisha, Mithilanchal part of Bihar and the southern part of Jharkhand, many people enjoy panipuris containing no sweet but with tamarind juice and spicy mashed potato.

In parts of Bihar, however it is also served along with "patta chat" comprising khesiya dried channa Black gram (Kala Chana) or dried yellow peas coated with hot freshly grinded green masalas recipe for which is basically dried black, yellow or green Bengal gram that is soaked in water for a minute and then washed in running water immediately and put in a frying pan/kardahi with shallow filled with mustard oil reaching smoky point preferably cooked in Chinese wok style, and the moment it starts giving/releasing pleasant sweet smell/scent/aroma/odour/fragrance/parfumes then add the dry green masalas comprising onion, garlic, ginger, green chilli, black & red pepper powder {curry leaves & a pinch of asfoetida optional} grounded/pounded in the puree/paste form in the rough style once the spices are evenly mixed remove it from flame let it cool, this can be stored as snacks too for up to a month. Alternatively, this at times is replaced with Ghugaenialias Ghoogini. It is then served with muri (sometimes spelled mouri)(mur-mure/kurmura/churmura or Muhdhi), and at times with hot onion pakoda/bonda or Uggani/Goli Baje/Wadaieyan Batata vada/ambode/Maddur vade/Sabudana vada style bhajiya Fritter of dried chick peasdumplings made up with onion slices/julienned with grated green chilli & potato or garlic. Make small balls with this mixture (a little smaller than a golf ball), flatten them a bit, and set aside. Fry these flattened pieces in the smoky hot oil, until they turn golden brown. Then, put it in diluted watery gravy in garam masala seasoning and cooked in cverd lid just ot make them tender for a while, in the traditional eastern Indian style & thereafter, kachalou is prepared with par-boiled blanch-cooked peeled potatoes are cut in slices, cubes or crumbled with sour hung/thick curd and mixed with chat masala & jeera namak (grounded black rock salt along with roasted cumin seeds, white & red pepper powder apportioned and mixed in 3:2:1 ratio) in a very pungent manner and then diluted with (dried mango powder)amchoor/tamarind & pudina/dhaniya water as per own taste bud. These all go very well as a filling in the Pani Puri.

In Jamshedpur, a mixture of hot "chole" made of yellow peas, boiled smashed potato, lots of fresh onion pieces, green chillies, tamarind juice and spices are mixed to make stuffing for golgappe. There are two types of golguppe: with tamarind water (a.k.a. phulki) or dry (aka; papadi).

One needs to break open the golgappe and stuff the mixture into it and put tamarind water in it. Papadi are those golgappe which are mostly flat. All the stuffing goes on the top of the papadi.

In Maharashtra, by contrast, the recipe is usually spicier and contains boondi or sprouts in addition to other ingredients. Panipuris are also eaten with curd and different types of masalas such as onion, sev (a type of besan vermicelli without any spices & seasoning)|(a fried snack shaped like thin noodles made from besan flour), and mixture (a mix of different types of fried snacks mixed together) or Bhujia along with available seasonal nuts, as the base of the snack. As we go down south India pani puri has taken its own variations in many regions. Hyderabad is famous for panipuri in Andhra Pradesh. Here the road side stalls serve pani puris with Boiled Chickpeas filled accompanied by spicy pani. At times the boiled chick peas is again warmed upon the tava with the addition of few more spices to this and is filled into the puris. These are lighter when compared to the potato stuffing.

In Bangalore the phuchka version of panipuris are served on streets with raw onions added.

The panipuri is also an off-beat recent entrant delicacy in northeastern as well in southern part of India popularized by Bollywood movies and the heavy influence following of neighbouring Northern Indian states traditions of cuisine cultural potpourri. It is blamed for an increase on stomach ache there. In Bengal, ingredients add chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt, spicy fish curry ras along with saute ginger, garlic, green chilies. .

Cultural references[edit]

A monthly children's magazine, Golgappa, was published from 1970 in Delhi.^[4] They were used in the Hindi movie Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, starring Shahrukh Khan & Anushka Sharma, in one scene called the "Gol Gappe Challenge." The person who ate the most is the winner, and the person who ate the least is the loser. The loser had to do anything the winner wanted from her or him. There is also an old song, still used till now, called "Gol Gappe Wala Aaya" (English: The Gol Gappe Man Is Here).

Nutritional information[edit]

Golgappas are generally considered to be a popular low calorie snack (typical serving size being 4 golgappas). The nutritional information per typical un-stuffed suji golgappa is (approximately 12g^{[citation needed]})

Nutrient	Weight
Fats	3 g
Carbohydrates	4 g
Protein	1 g

Calorie information for the golgappa (12g unstuffed) would be:

Calories from Fats	27 Kcal
Calories from Carbohydrates	16 Kcal
Calories from Protein	04 Kcal