Food

Pani Puri

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Pani Puri

Hollow puff chips filled with flavored water may sound somewhat odd to American taste buds, but if you’ve ever experienced Indian street food then you’ve probably seen Pani Puri.  Eric and I were introduced to this popular Indian snack when we did a food tour with Chicago Food Walks.  We’ve been wanting to try them ever since but lacked the ingredients to do so.  A recent trip to Houston with some stops at Subhlaxmi Grocers and Patel Brothers remedied that however, so we experimented this weekend!

Pani Puri is quite simple — it consists of a light fried spherical chip (puri) that is hollow on the inside and then filled with some type of flavored water (pani).  If you know Indian food, you know the water will most likely be flavored well with some type of spice — and you would be correct.  Before pouring the water mixture, however, the puri gets a scoop of extra deliciousness — often a sweet chutney, chili, chaat masala spice mixture, potatoes or chickpeas.  The ingredients vary according to the region, as does the name of this dish.  It is sometimes called golgappa, phuchka, pakodi, phulki, pani batasha, or gup chup.

pani puri

As this was our first attempt at Pani Puri, we didn’t feel confident making everything from scratch so Eric purchased pre-packaged semolina puffs and two types of chutney:  Mother’s Recipe Bhelpuri Chutney (sweet with dates, jaggery, mint, coriander, green chili & tamarind) and Nirav Mango Chutney (spicier with mango, coriander, green chili, coconut powder & spices).  He made a chickpea filling and second pani sauce himself.  Here are the ingredients we used, the recipes, and how we served it (disregard the homemade hummus & pita chips in the pictures…we got crazy). 🙂

Puri Filling

1-C. cooked Kala Chana chickpeas
*Rinsed dried chickpeas (not soaked) can be cooked in slow cooker on ‘low’ for 6-8 hours (1-lb chickpeas:7-C. water)
1-C. cooked extra course bulgur
2-T. cilantro leaves, finely chopped
2-T. flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
2-green onions, finely chopped
1/2-tsp sea salt
*Mix together in bowl.

Sweet Chutney

2-T.  Bhelpuri Chutney
*Serve in small thali dish or tiny bowl.Mother's Recipe Bhelpuri Chutney

Spicy Pani 

1-T. Mango Chutney
1-T. chilled, filtered water
*Whisk together & serve in small thali dish or tiny bowl. 
Nirav Mango Chutney

Sweet Pani

1/2-C. cilantro leaves, loosely packed
1/4-C. mint leaves, loosely packed
1/2-T. ground cumin
1/2-tsp ground ginger
1/2-tsp Masala powder
1-T. white sugar
1-T. fresh lemon juice
1/2-tsp sea salt
1/4~1/2-C. water
*Combine all ingredients in blender until no leaves remain; serve in small thali dish or tiny bowl.

Puri

30-count package

pani puri golgappa

Preparation:

1) Pock the top of puri (chip)
2) Add filling, followed by chutney, and spicy or sweet pani
pani puri

I thought it very timely that Eric decided to make this dish about a week after I finished reading a book by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni called The Palace of Illusions, which is an adaptation of the Mahabharata epic from the perspective of Panchaali (aka Draupadi).  One of the legends of origin for pani puri involves Draupadi, so how perfect was that!  For more history and a better description, I suggest this article:

https://foodandstreets.com/2017/05/29/culinary-chaos-a-history-of-pani-puri/

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Reflections & Humor

Afraid

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AFRAID

I am not afraid of illness.
I am afraid of losing the ability to move around this world that I’ve yet to explore.

I am not afraid of failure.
I am afraid of being too scared to try.

I am not afraid of pain.
I am afraid of being too numb to feel.

I am not afraid of the future.
I am afraid of missing my chance to make it better.

I am not afraid of being forgotten when I die.
I am afraid of forgetting who I am.

I am not afraid of death.
I am afraid of running out of time.
Of missing one more day to show how much I love you.

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Europe, Travel Diary, Trip Planning, United States

Millennial Camping

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According to a 2017 KOA study, more than 1 million new households in the US have begun camping each year since 2014 and Millennials are driving that trend.  RV sales are up, van camping is trendy again, and the new generation of teens (aka Generation Z) are showing strong interest in camping as well.  But this new generation of outdoor travelers isn’t using a printed map to find their campsites — they’ve got nifty digital tools for that!

Sure, you can always pick a park and go directly to their website to find campsites.  But what if you don’t know where you want to go yet?  What if you want a secluded spot on private land?

Enter Hipcamp, Tentrr, and Gamping — the new kids on the block.  These companies are called the “AirBnBs of Camping” because they provide crowdsource lodging, enabling private landowners to make their property available to complete strangers (and hopefully earn some profit).  If this trend catches on, it could be a game changer in the world of camping and outdoor travel.

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