Fish Fry

I have been blogging for some time now. While my blogs have touched various nooks and crannies of Bengali and Indian cuisine but somehow a mainstay of Bengali food, the famed Kolkata Fish fry has been missing. I did blog the recipe awhile back and it was one of my more popular posts but somehow the post got deleted.
So here it is back on bongcook, and to make up for the deletion I actually have a video to go along with. I love short and sweet videos and in that theme this is only around 2 minutes.
The reason I call it restaurant style is because while a lot of people make it at home it doesn’t quiet get the restaurant look. In the video I tried to cover how to really make it look good as well.
Hope you enjoy the video and as always I have the recipe below as well.

Ingredients For Marination

• 250gms bhetki fillet cut approximately 2 inch by 2 inch
  
• 1 lemon
  
• 2 tbsp. onion paste
  
• 2 tsp. ginger paste
  
• 2 tsp. garlic paste
  
• 2 tsp. green chili paste
  
• 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper corn
  
• Salt to taste
  

Procedure For Marination

Mix all the ingredients above including the juice of one lemon and apply to the fish fillet so that all the sides are well covered with this spice mixture. Marinate for 3 - 4 hrs.

Ingredients For Coating & Frying

• 2 eggs
  
• Plenty of bread crumbs
  
• Enough refined oil for deep frying
  

Procedure For Coating & Frying
In a bowl beat 2 eggs with salt.
In a wide tray or plate take bread crumbs and spread it to form a layer.
With a spoon or fork take each fillet out, and dip it in the egg wash and place flat on the bread crumb layer. With your dry hands sprinkle a fistful of bread crumb on the open top layer of the fillet so that that this surface too is covered with bread crumbs.
Press gently with the palms of your hand to flatten them.
Use the blunt side of a knife and press it along the all 4 edges of the breaded fillet to give them a professional look. :)
Heat enough oil for deep frying till it smokes. Reduce the temperature and let it cool down a bit before you slid in the breaded fillet. Fry on medium high heat till both sides turn golden brown and crispy.
Remove on a paper towel and serve with salad.

Cook Friendly Chili Chicken

One of my most ardent readers is now one of my very good friend and neighbor. One day over tea we were discussing, how hard it is to make chili-chicken when you have food robbers in the house. The moment we are done with frying the chicken it starts disappearing. Finally the chili-chicken results in lot of chili and very little chicken.

Just to handle this situation I have come up with the cook friendly version where the chicken is not fully cooked after frying and that stops the robbers.

Ingredients

For Marination

• 1lb boneless chicken cut into small pieces
• 2 tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 tbsp. ginger paste
• 2 tbsp. dark soya sauce
• 2 tbsp. chili garlic sauce
• 2 tbsp. green chili sauce
• Salt to state
• 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. corn meal or rice flour
• 4 tbsp.. oil

For Gravy

• 1 large onion cut into cubes
• 1 green bell pepper cut into cubes
• 2 tbsp. chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp. chopped green chilies
• 1/.2 cup chopped green onion.
• 1 tbsp. vinegar
• 2 tbsp. green chili sauce
• 2 tbsp. chili garlic sauce
• 2 tbsp. dark soya sauce
• 2 tbsp. corn starch diluted in half cup water
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Marinates chicken pieces with all ingredients listed under margination without the flours and the oil. Marinate for half an hour. Sprinkle all purpose flour and corn meal over the chicken pieces and coat very gently.

Now heat oil in a wide shallow frying pan. Shallow fry the chicken pieces in one layer first on high heat for a minute and then on medium heat till the meat is ninety percent done. You will see the surface of the chicken pieces are crispy because of the application of corn meal. Remove and reserve for later use.

In the rest of the oil add chopped garlic and fry for a minute before you add onion and green chilies to it. Sauté everything together for a minute or two on high heat. Now add fried chicken pieces to it and mix well. Cook it covered on low heat for couple of minutes. This will cook chicken through and through.

Remove the lid and crank up the heat to high. Add bell pepper and toss everything well. Turn off the heat.

In another sauce pan combine vinegar, chili garlic sauce, green chili sauce, dark soya sauce with half

a cup of water. Bring it to a boil. Bring the heat to the lowest and slowly add diluted corn starch to it.

Crank up the heat while stirring it continuously till you see the sauce thickens up. Add the fried chicken mixture to it and turn off the heat.  check the seasoning and adjust. Garnish with green onion.

If you want dry chili chicken then you add all the sauce directly over the fried chicken mixture and fry everything together till the chicken pieces are well coated with the sauces. Add diluted cornstarch over it and mix on high flame till the moisture dries up. Check the seasoning and adjust. Finish it off with chopped green onion.

Prawn Cutlet

 

Yesterday I met with a bunch of friends for our monthly adda session. One of our friends had posted on Facebook, delicious photos of prawn cutlet she had made. We were after her about our missing share of the booty.

That reminded me that my post of chingrir cutlet was languishing in drafts. Time to post it.

With summer around the corner this makes for a fantastic eat on your patio paired with some nice white wine or Riesling.

Ingredients

• 2 large king prawns (each about 150gm)
• 2 tsp. chopped green chilies
• 2 tsp. ginger paste
• 2 tsp. garlic paste
• 1 tsp. black pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• 2 large egg
• 3 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 2 cups bread crumb
• Mustard oil enough for deep frying

Procedure

Devein the prawns. Remove the shell other than the tail part. Slit and open it flat. Score lengthwise on each side of the central cut. This will help to keep the prawn flat while giving them the shape of a cutlet.

In a bowl mix everything other than the last four ingredients. Apply on both sides of the prawn and marinate them in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Take out the marinated prawns.

In a bowl mix the flour with the egg and 1 tbsp. mustard oil. Season it with salt and sugar and mix well to make a lump free batter.

**Take each marinated prawn at a time and first roll it over the bed of bread crumb. Take the blunt side of a knife and press it against the side of the prawn to give them the shape of a cutlet. Repeat the same process for the other marinated prawn.

In a deep wok heat mustard oil enough for deep frying. Now take each prawn and dip into the egg batter. Shake off the extra batter from it and gently slide it into the medium hot oil. Fry on medium heat till both sides are crispy and golden brown..

Serve with your favorite ketchup and salad..

**NOTE: Normally you first dip in batter and then roll in bread-crump, in this recipe it is intentional that it is done the other way around so as to stop the prawn from curling up.

Dahl Puri

One of our friends kept raving about some Dahl Puri which he had at a small restaurant in Seattle. He was so impressed that I had to also try it out. After a few attempts we finally got to Pam’s Kitchen at the University District one evening. I was surprised to know how a large percentage of Caribbean population is of Indian origin and our food has taken a different twist in their kitchen. I loved the Dahl Puri which they served along with a medley of Goat curry and Potato-bean curry. Even though they call it Puri it is more closer to Indian Parantha than the traditional Puri.

This is my recreation of the same, but obviously with a bong twist.

Ingredients

For the filling

• 2 cups yellow split peas
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. ground roasted cumin
• 2 green chilies
• Salt to taste

For the dough

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. instant yeast 
• 1 cup water

Procedure

Wash split peas and boil them in a sauce pan with about six cups of water and a pinch of turmeric powder. Once it comes to a rolling boil reduce the heat and cook for about thirty minutes.

Drain them on a strainer and let it cool down.

Take all the ingredients of the filling in a food processor. Grind them into a smooth mixture. There should not be any whole piece of grain left in the mixture.

In a mixing bowl take flour, yeast, salt and baking powder. Add water little at a time and start kneading. You might need to add little more water than a cup. keep kneading until you make a firm dough.

Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let it rest for thirty minutes.

Divide the dough into six portion and make smaller balls out of them.flatten out each dough ball in your hand to form a six inch circle and dust one side of it with dry flour. Fill this up with 3 tbsp. of filling and then using your finger close the open end and seal.

On a flour dusted surface roll out each stuffed dough ball into a disc of 12 inch diameter.

Heat a skillet (Tawa) on medium high heat. Brush the surface with oil. Place the rolled out disc on hot tawa and let this side cook for thirty seconds. Flip it over. Once the puri is done it well swell up like a ball. Remove from tawa.

Serve hot.

RaniDi-r Rosun Aloor Dum

In our school, it was a very common to see that a bunch of folks remained hungry with a box full of alur dum or ghugni at the end of the lunch hour. No, they didn’t pack those for their lunch. It was bought from Rani-Di. Rani-Di was distinctly different from her fellow colleagues. The crisp cotton sari, the curly long hair, the big red dot just in the middle of her forehead and a smile which was really a rare sight in our school made her stand out in the crowd, she was our Rani-Di.

Each day she used bring aloor dum, aloo kabli, ghugni and tetul or kuler acchar. Sometimes we had to wait in queue for the whole 30 minutes of our lunch time and didn’t even get time to eat it.

I used to urge my mom to make the same Aloo-r Dum. Based on my descriptions she tried multiple times but it never tasted the same. One day I asked Rani-Di and she told me to ask my mom to use garlic instead of ginger. Hence came the name.

Ingredients

• 250 gms. baby potatoes
• 6-7 fat cloves of garlic
• 1 large tomato
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp. coriander powder
• 1 tbsp. thick tamarind pulp
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• Oil
• 2-3 green chilies finely chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro finely chopped
• 1 tsp. black salt
• 1 tbsp. bhaaja masala ( Dry roast and coarsely grind 1 tsp. cumin, 1tsp. coriander and 2 dry red chilies)

Procedure

Peel baby potatoes and boil them in salt water for 2-3 minutes. Drain water and smear potatoes with a pinch of turmeric.

Heat oil in a pan and deep fry potatoes till they turn golden yellow. Drain on a paper towel and keep aside.

Peel the skin of tomato and make a paste of it with garlic cloves.

Heat 3 tbsp. oil in a pan and add tomato garlic paste to it. Sauté on low heat till the raw smell goes off. Add cumin, coriander, turmeric and chili powder to it. Fry on low heat till you see oil seeps from the edge.

Add fried potato along with tamarind pulp and fry them along with the spices. Season with salt and sugar. Add 1/4 cup of water to it. Mix well and let it simmer on low heat till potatoes are done. Keep an eye so that you don’t over cook them.

If required turn the heat on high and let the excess moisture dry out. This is a dry dish and at the end the potatoes will be just coated with the spice mixture.

Turn off the heat and garnish with chopped cilantro and green chilies. Sprinkle generous amount of bhaaja masala, little black salt and add a dash of tamarind juice just before serving.

Medu Vada

Medu vada or vadai is a common South Indian snacks. Everyone seems to make them at home. However, really good quality medu vada simply stands out and is very hard to get even in the Southern parts of India. My husband is a vada fanatic. He hates waiting in line to get food, but would still queue up at Chutneys in Hyderabad at 3:30 waiting for their specific vada maker to come in at 4:00 and make scorching hot vadas. He judges a Southern café or restaurant just by their vada and most fails that test, some of the exceptions being Chutneys, Kamath, Saravana Bhavan and the likes.

Good vada has a super crunchy exterior contrasted by a soft yet well cooked interior. The vada has to be served right after making it.

Ingredients

• 1 cup urad dal whole or split (Black lentils without skin)
• 2 green chilies
• 1/2” ginger
• 5 – 6 pepper corns crushed
• 1/2tsp. asafetida (Hing)
• 1tsp. whole cumin seed
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

Procedure

Wash and soak urad dal in enough water for 5- 6 hours.

Drain and grind it into a coarse paste with green chilies and ginger. You might need to add very little water. Water should be just enough to make a soft but not watery dough – as its the consistency of the batter that determines the shape and softness of the vadas.

Transfer the paste in a bowl add add salt to it. Now beat it with your hand till the batter is light and fluffy. To make sure it’s right, run the following floating test. Take a cup of water and drop a little dough into it. If the dough immediately floats up, your dough is ready. If it sinks you need to beat it some more.

Add hing, cumin seeds and crushed pepper corn. Mix once more.

Heat oil in a kadai.

Wet your hand and take a portion of the mixture and start giving it the shape of vada by making a hole at the center with your thumb. When the oil is really hot upturn your hand and carefully slide the vada in oil.

Deep fry till both sides turn golden brown.

Note:

• Make the vadas as soon as the batter is ready as they will absorb too much oil if left for a long time.
• Add the vadas when the oil is really hot. It will make the outside of the vadas crispy while keeping the inside soft.

Remove and drain on an absorbent paper and serve with coconut chutney.

Laccha Paratha (Multilayered Indian Flatbread)

Laccha means coil or bundle. As this name suggests this paratha is made by coiling dough together. Essentially instead of following the flat-bread approach, here the dough is flattened and then coiled around so that the final paratha becomes layered. This paratha is known in different names, like flaky-paratha, lacchedar parathha, laccha paratha, Kerala-paratha. All of these are essentially the same with slight variations (e.g. Kerala-paratha has egg in it).

Originally laccha paratha was available in Kolkata as just a paratha. We used to have it all the time in Golpark Bedwin. It was generally served with some Mughlai meat curries like chaap, rezala, rogan-josh, korma. However, with time it is become more popular as the standard Mughlai paratha. Today most street food joints serve egg-rolls and chicken-rolls wrapped in Laccha paratha.

We love to have laccha paratha with chaap (mutton, chicken), you can use this recipe as your first step for making rolls as well.

Ingredients

1. 3 cups + 2tsp. all purpose flour
2. 1tsp. salt
3. 1tsp. sugar
4. 4tbsp. oil
5. 4tbsp. clarified butter
6. 1 cup warm water
7. Oil for shallow frying

Procedure

In a small bowl mix ghee with 2tsp. dry flour to make a paste and keep aside.

In a big mixing bowl take rest of the flour, salt, sugar and mix them well. Add 4tbsp. oil to it and rub in the flour using your finger tips. Add warm water little at a time at knead it into a soft smooth dough. Keep it covered for about 30 minutes.

Knead the dough once again and divide it into 8 – 10 equal portions. Shape each dough into a round ball and flatten a little.

Flour a rolling surface lightly and rolled out a dough into a flat disc of about 6” in diameter (1/3” thick).

Apply the ghee + flour paste (made in the first step) evenly on the top surface of the disc.

Start folding the disc from one side like you fold for a paper fan. Continue folding till you reach the other end.

Now this will look like a long rope. Stretch it gently.

Start rolling up the rope from one end and tuck the other end underneath the dough bud. By this time it will look like a flower bud.

Roll out the dough bud with very gentle pressure without affecting the layers. Roll out only one side, do not flip and roll because it will spoil the layers.

Final rolled out discs should be little thick with visible layers.

Place the rolled out discs on a hot griddle. Fry for about 30 seconds and then turn it over. Pour half tsp. oil and spread it on the paratha. Shallow fry over low heat. Flip it over and again pour oil on the other side. Cook on medium heat you see nice golden spots all over.

Remove from the griddle and apply gentle pressure on the sides with your palms to loosen and make the layers visible.

Your laccha paratha is ready to eat!!!

Chicken Cutlet - Bengali Style

My first love is Mutton Braised cutlet. I used to always head to our neighborhood “Ashoka Café” to get my fix. However, sometimes I used to land there on Thursdays. Thursdays in Kolkata is a no meat day and slaughter houses and butchers are closed and most restaurants do not serve meats other than fish and chicken. So the only option was to eat chicken cutlet. I know I am making this sound bad, but in reality the chicken cutlet is pretty tasty.

Ingredients

1. 10 pcs. thin cut boneless chicken breasts cut into rectangles 
2. 12 fat garlic cloves
3. 1” ginger
4. 5 – 6 green chilies
5. 1 lime
6. 1tsp. black pepper powder
7. Salt to taste
8. 1 egg
9. Enough bread crumb for coating
10. Refined oil for deep frying

Procedure

If the chicken pieces are not thin enough, wrap each of them in a plastic and pound them with the flat side of your meat tenderizer.

In a grinder make a paste of ginger, garlic and green chilies. In a separate bowl take this spice paste and add black pepper powder, salt and lime. Whisk everything together.

Take the chicken pieces and apply this mixture on both the sides. Keep them marinated in a refrigerator for 5 – 6 hour. Take them out of the refrigerator at least an hour before you want to fry them. Break the egg and mix it well so the chicken pieces get a coating of it. Spread bread crumbs on a flat platter and roll the cutlets in it. Define the edges by pressing the blunt side of the knife against it. Once the coating is done let them rest in the refrigerator for 1/2hour.

Heat enough oil in a kadai till it smokes. Now reduce the heat to medium high and gently slide the cutlet in. Let that cook till both sides turn golden brown and crispy.

Remove and place on a paper towel with a slotted spoon. Sprinkle black salt and serve with some salad and mustard-sauce or tomato ketchup.

Bengali Style Mutton Braised Cutlet

Close to where I grew up there was this small café called Ashoka Restaurant in Behala Kolkata. They made the best cutlets ever with Goat chops. Braised cutlet is a remnant of British colonial era. The food the British got into Kolkata during the time it was the colonial capital of India slowly morphed its name and is generally called “Breast Cutlet” today. “Whats in a name” so call it whatever you like, it still tastes amazing.

Ingredients

1. 8 pieces mutton chops
2. 8 – 10 cloves garlic
3. 4 – 5 green chilies
4. 1 small onion
5. Juice of one lime
6. 1tsp. Bengali garam masala powder
7. 1tsp. black pepper powder
8. 2 eggs
9. Salt
10. Breadcrumb
11. Oil for deep frying
12. 1tsp. black salt (kala namak)
13. Salad of your choice for serving

Procedure

If you are buying the chops from local butcher ask them to flatten them with the sides of their heavy knife. Else you can buy a meat tenderizer and flatten the chops. Wash them thoroughly and pat dry.

In a grinder take onion, cloves, green chilies and coarsely grind them for a second or two. Transfer the ground spices in a bowl and add lime juice, black pepper powder, garam masala powder and salt to it. Mix it well.

Take a wide tray and arrange the chops in a single layer. Rub the spice mixture on both sides of the chops. Let them rest in a refrigerator for 5-6 hrs.

Now take the chops and shake off the excess marinade (reserve the marinade for later use). In a pressure cooker cook the chops on high heat till the first whistle. Allow the steam to settle down before you open the cooker.

Take the chops out with a slotted spoon and allow them to cool down to room temperature. You can now scrape off any extra meat attached to the bone with a knife. This will allow the bone to stick out of the cutlet.

Break two eggs in a bowl and beat them with a pinch of salt. Add half of the beaten egg to the reserved marinade and again slather this mixture to the both sides of the boiled chops. Keep the chops in the refrigerator for half an hour, so that the spices will get stick to the chops and you can taste them in every bite.

Spread enough bread crumb in a plate and roll the chops. If you want you can give them a double coating. To do so you need to dip the coated chops in the beaten egg and then cover with crumbs once more.

In a wok or kadai heat enough oil for deep frying till it smokes. Now bring down the temperature to medium and gently slide in the chops one at a time. Fry till both sides turn brown and crispy. It won’t take more than 2-3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain them on a paper towel.

Sprinkle black salt and serve with salad and mustard sauce.

Hakka Noodles from My Mom In Law’s Kitchen

If I landed at my husband’s (my then classmate’s) home around evening, I’d always find him gorging on this Hakka noodles. Obviously I’d get my share :). She uses a bunch of non-traditional ingredients like cauliflower and green peas that are not common in the actual Indo-Chinese recipe. I used to say such good things about it in my circle that they demanded to try it out as well. On request my mother-in-law made two boxes for me to take to my friends. They loved it!!

I never really tried to make it myself. I always thought it’d never turn out to be the same. Sometime back in my visit to the local Indian grocery store, I saw some egg noodles (which isn’t common around here). I picked them up and called my mother-in-law. With her recipe I made this seemingly simple yet deceptively tasty dish which has a bong twist to it.

Ingredients

1. 1pkt noodles boiled as per package direction ( I used Ching’s egg noodles )
2. 2 eggs
3. 1/2lb shrimp cleaned
4. 1/2 cup small florets of cauliflower
5. 2 baby carrots cut into thin sticks
6. 1/2 cup green peas
7. 1/2 cup chopped green onions
8. 2 green chilies chopped
9. 1tsp. dark soya sauce
10. 1tsp. black pepper powder
11. Salt to taste
12. Vegetable oil

Procedure

Take a frying pan and heat 1tsp. oil. Break both the eggs and scramble them. Cook for a minute and remove.

In the same pan heat another spoon of oil and fry the shrimps on medium heat till they are cooked. Remove and reserve.

Take water in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Add all the vegetables other than chili and green onion  to it. Cook them on high heat for 2-3 minutes. Drain the water and dunk all these vegetables in cold water. This will help to retain the color and shape of the vegetables.

In a wok heat rest of the oil and add green chilies to it. Fry on low heat for about a minute. Drain the water of the boiled vegetables and throw them in the wok.  Fry them on high heat for another one to two minutes before you add boiled noodles and shrimps to it.

Add salt, soya sauce and black pepper powder. Stir fry on medium high heat till all the cooked ingredients and noodles are well combined and the noodles are no longer soft but little crispy. Garnish with chopped green onion and serve hot.

From Street to Home: Kolkata Style Phuchka and Churmur

Our Kolkata college memories are filled with standing infront of the local phuchka vendor starting the conversation with “দাদা টাকায় কটা" and ending with “দুটো ফাউ”. Later when we moved to other cities, it was one of our eternal quest to find a phuchka center and explaining to everyone that gol-gappa or the panipuri is NOT phuchka. Phuchka is a West Bengal and Bihar specialty which varies significantly from rest of India.

When I decided to make phuchk the first name that came to my mind was our friend Jhuma. It was oft rumored that she was going to marry a phuchka-walla and settle down :). We always used to go eat phuchka with her because she got heavy frequent customer discount. One of our college professors saw her eating phuchka while he was coming in and saw her do the same while leaving for the day. Next day in class he asked her whether she stayed the entire day in front of the stall gobbling them down.

Jhuma’s phuchka fondness could only be contrasted against my father-in-law’s disgust for it. He’d share graphic details of the contents on the hands of the phuchka-walla as he dipped it inside the tamarind water. Few who could bear to hear him out could eat phuchka for the next few weeks. Ultimately though the craving won out. I started to write down the story he narrated, but then figured out that most of my readers would just leave this page and not read the recipe.

This recipe takes the easier route of getting packed phuchka like Deep Panipuri and taking it from there.

Ingredients for Tamarind Water

1. Seedless dried tamarind (lemon sized ball)
2. 1tsp. beet noon (Black salt)
3. 2tsp. bhaaja masala. Dry roast and grind to a powder the following
   1. 1tbsp. whole cumin seeds
   2. 1 tbsp.coriander seeds
   3. 4 dry red chilly
4. 4 cups water

Procedure of making Tamarind water

Soak the tamarind in one cup of water for about half an hour. Now squeeze the pulp out of it and discard the fiber.

Take around 3 cup of water in a mixing bowl and add tamarind pulp and one tsp. green chili paste to it.

Sprinkle 2tsp. bhaaja masala, 1tsp. beet noon (Black salt) and half a tsp. of plain salt to it. Stir it well till salt dissolves. Taste and adjust salt and sour balance in it.

Ingredients for stuffing

1. 1/2 cup yellow peas soaked in water overnight
2. 3 medium sized potatoes peeled and boiled
3. 4-5 green chilies finely chopped (you can adjust it depending on your spice level)
4. 1/2 cup coriander leaves (cilantro) finely chopped
5. 1tbsp. bhaaja masala (see above on how to make it)
6. 1tsp. red chili powder
7. 1 tsp. beet noon (black salt)
8. Plain salt as required

Procedure

In a pressure cooker boil the soaked peas with salt. Cook it for one to two whistles. Let the pressure release on its own. Allow the cooked peas to come down to the room temperature.

In a big bowl take all the above ingredients and add one or to spoonful of tamarind water to it. Mix them well but try to not squish the peas.

Ingredients For phuchka

I bought Deep Panipuri packet from Indian store. Each of the packet has 30 pieces. Here I have given the measurements enough for 30 panipuris. I use the puffed ones for phuchka, and the flat ones for making churmur.

Bringing everything together

Puchka is best had when someone is continually making it for others. If you wait to eat them it will get soggy.

Take phuchka and poke a hole at the center of each of them with your thumb. Stuff it with little potato filling and give it a quick dip in the tamarind water and serve it immediately.

churmur

Once we were done eating phuchka we’d generally get churmur to-go. This is the same thing as phuchka in chaat format where everything is mashed together. We’d take it back home for the family and also as something to munch on as we headed back home.

1. 5-6 panipuris specially the flat ones
2. 1 medium potatoes boiled and chopped
3. 2tbsp. boiled yellow peas
4. 1/2 tsp. chopped green chilies
5. 1tsp. chopped cilantro
6. 1tsp. finely chopped red onions
7. 1/2tsp. bhaaja masala (see above on how to make it)
8. 1/2tsp. beet noon (black salt)
9. 1/2 tsp. red chili powder
10. 2tsp. tamarind water
11. Salt

Procedure

In a bowl mix everything together other than panipuris. Taste to check the salt and sour balance. Adjust accordingly. and keep it ready. Just before serving crush the panipuris and sprinkle over.