Yes, of course you can find a pani puri walla (PPW) at every street corner these days. That’s the ‘terroir’ of the pani puri. Just as the best French wines are identified by their place of origin, or terroir, there are fabled regions which have become brands. For instance, there’s Chowpathy in Mumbai, or even the El-Co arcade at Bandra, that first created the chilled pani. New Market in Kolkata has a bustling hive of exponents.
At Chennai, the PPW from either Orissa, Bihar, or UP has elevated the portable pani puri stand to make it both moveable and visible. The puris are arranged in a cane basket balanced on a tripod like a nuclear bomb under a skin of plastic. The vendor has a matkato store the fresh water tucked beneath the basket. The other ingredients are ready. Depending upon the skill of the PPW these are juggled by hand and popped into the mouth of the waiting customer. It’s a crunch, pop and burst experience of different tastes and textures in one mouthful.
We have listed 11 varieties of pani puris that have gone from street to five-star treat.
• Classic: Puffed wheat fried puri- spiced potato mash; sweet-sour tamarind-date chutney; green coriander chutney-based pani; additional chilli-salt mixture.
• Puchka: Bengali version. Puchkas can be coloured in violent shades of green, red and orange and the sweet elements are sweeter.
• Puchka-Schezwan: Same as above but with elements from the Chinese cuisine added to make it a Bengali-Chinese collaboration.
• Semolina Puris: These are for the export market, either tiny discs to be fried at home, or larger ones that don’t crack while being packaged for home delivery.
•Chilled Pani-Puri: Originally invented in Bandra, according to some experts.
At Chennai, Mansukhs, Gangotri, Sree Mithai, Indiska.
•Karol Bagh or Delhi specialty: Pani Puris with floating bhoondi. On special occasions such as Holi or Diwali with the addition of traditional mood elevators.
• Health food pani puris: sprouts, such as moong, kabuli channa, boiled quinoa, etc.
•Sanjeev Kapoor specials: Addition of black grape juice instead of the traditional pani.
•Mumbai Papa Cream puris: Sorbet-flavoured pani puri. A favorite for weddings to match the décor.
•Adam D’Sylva, Aussie Chef puris: Fruit salad and fruit punch puris.
•Vodka pani puri: What can we say except, cheers!