Pani Puri is a snack and is often served as an appetizer at festivals or dinner parties. This post shows you how to make Gluten free Pani Puri.
Pani Puri is an Indian street food and is eaten as a snack anytime of the day! It is one of the foods that form ‘Chaat’, which roughly translates to spicy, street food! Pani puri consists of deep fried, crisp hollow puris (puffs) made out of all purpose flour, that are filled with different kinds of fillings (mashed chick peas or other legumes, mashed potatoes, etc) , topped with different kinds of chutneys (green cilantro chutney, tamarind chutney and fried chickpea noodles. And that’s not it. These babies are then dunked into the ‘pani’ (water), which is a tangy, spicy water flavored with mint, ginger and other spices like cumin, black salt and dried mango powder. As you can see, Pani Puri is not just any dish – it is an EXPERIENCE! It awakens all your senses with all the different flavors – spicy, tangy, sweet and salty!
Having missed eating Pani puri for the last 6 years since starting AIP, I was beyond elated to create this recipe.
What are the ingredients used to make GLUTEN FREE Pani Puri?
- This Pani Puri recipe is GLUTEN FREE and I am using a blend of two different flours in this recipe. One of them is a readymade Gluten Free flour blend – Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour.This flour blend consists of Garbanzo flour, Tapioca Starch, Potato starch, Sorghum flour and lava bean flour. I love that it does not contain any corn flour or soy flour as both of those are inflammatory to many people.
- The second flour is white rice flour. I use white rice flour that I get from the Indian grocers. You can also get it online on amazon.
- Sea Salt – You can use any sea salt for this recipe
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil – You can use any good brand. Olive oil helps to make the dough smooth and remove the stickiness so it’s easy to roll.
- Hot water – This recipe uses hot water to mix the dough.
- Avocado oil for deep frying
What are the steps to make Gluten Free Pani Puri?
- You mix the two flours (mentioned above) with the sea salt in a mixing bowl.
- Add the hot water slowly until you get all of the flour wet. Make sure to add the hot water slowly so that you don’t get the dough too sticky.
- Let the dough cool for 5-10 minutes until it is cool enough to handle.
- Add the olive oil and knead the dough gently using your hands to form a smooth dough
- Divid the dough into equal sized balls for rolling.
- Roll the dough into a thin circle using a rolling pin like a tortilla.
- Use a cookie cutter or the rim of a glass to form small rounds(puris).
- Deep fry the puris in avocado oil slowly in medium hot oil until they puff up on one side and until they turn crisp and golden brown on both sides.
You can watch my detailed VIDEO TUTORIAL for making GLUTEN FREE PANI PURI here.
How to serve Gluten Free Pani Puris?
Typically Pani Puris are served with a variety of fillings and toppings. Here are some suggestions for fillings and toppings!
Fillings:
- Mashed chickpeas (You can use organic canned chickpeas – drain them and mash them adding a bit of sea salt)
- Mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes mixed with cilantro chutney
- Boiled moong beans mixed with rock salt and chaat masala
Toppings:
- Cilantro Chutney (My cookbook AIP Indian Fusion has an AIP version of Cilantro Chutney)
- Tamarind Chutney (My cookbook AIP Indian Fusion has an AIP version of Tamarind Chutney)
- Finely Chopped red onion
- Fine chickpea flour sev
For the Pani (Spiced Water):
Here’s a great recipe for the Pani that I love to make.
- ½ cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour
- ½ cup White Rice flour
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- About 1 and 2 tbsps hot water
- 2 tsps extra virgin olive oil
- Avocado Oil for deep frying
- In a large mixing bowl, add the two flours and the salt. Mix using a spatula. Then slowly add the hot water little bit at a time until all the flour mix is wet and you don't see any dry flour.
- Loosely cover and Let this dough cool for about 5-10 minutes until you can handle it.
- Then add the olive oil and gently knead using your hands to form a smooth dough.
- divide dough into 4 equal size balls.
- Heat avocado oil in a deep pan for frying the balls.
- Take one ball and cover the rest of the dough (to prevent it from drying) and roll using a rolling pin into a circle about 8 inches dia. Using a round or oval cookie cutter, cut the dough into small rounds or ovals.
- Using one puri check if the oil is hot enough for deep frying (the puri should sizzle and come up). Add about 4-6 puris at a time to the pan for deep frying. Turn heat to medium. Spoon the hot oil onto the surface of the puris to help them puff up. After about a minute after they have fluffed, flip each puri and again continue to fry them on medium heat for another 2-3 minutes flipping them after every minute until the puris are crisp and golden brown.
- Using a slotted spoon, carefully drain the puris off of oil and place on a plate covered with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
- Repeat this process until you have made and fried all the puris.
While you are ready to transfer the puris to the plate, check if any puri has a oprick in it causing it to be filled with oil. You can crack it open and drain all the oil first before transferring them to the plate.
If you love recipes like these, you will love my cookbook AIP Indian Fusion! It has AIP recipes for several traditional Indian recipes like these including one for Chicken Papdi Chaat!
