Puffed Crispy Puri for Pani Puri

Blue platter with fried puris for pani puri and other chaats with more chaat ingredients around it.

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5 from 1 vote

Puffed Crispy Puri for Pani Puri

An easy to make recipe for perfectly crisp, puffed and airy semolina puri for pani puri.

Use these to make your favorite chaat recipes in minutes.

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Resting Time30

Total Time1 10

Course: Sides

Cuisine: Chaat, Indian

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 11kcal

Author: Smruti

Ingredients

1 cup fine semolina (rava)
2 tablespoon all purpose flour
⅛ teaspoon baking Soda
¼ cup club soda (sparkling water)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup water (if needed)
oil (to fry)

Instructions

In a bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix well.
1 cup fine semolina, 2 tablespoon all purpose flour , ⅛ teaspoon baking Soda , ¼ teaspoon salt
Add club soda or sparkling water. Mix well.
¼ cup club soda
Add water as required to make a dough. The dough should not be too tough or soft.
¼ cup water
Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes.
Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a wet kitchen towel. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Once rested, knead it again for a couple of minutes.
Divide the dough into 5- 6 equal parts.
Using one dough ball, roll it out to a disc of 1.5-2 mm thickness. Keep the other dough balls covered with wet towel.
Using a cookie cutter of 4-5 cm diameter cut out discs. Place the discs under a wet kitchen towel so they do not dry out.
Collect the leftover dough cuttings and save them. Repeat for all the dough balls and for the saved dough cuttings.
Heat the oil in a wok or pan till hot. Keep the flame high when putting the puris to fry.
oil
Do not overcrowd the pan. Put about 5-6 puris depending on the size of the pan.
Lower the flame to medium high and fry the puris pressing them down with a spatula.
Once they puff up, turn them over and fry till golden brown.
Remove from oil and place the puris on paper towels to drain off excess oil.
Store in an airtight container once completely cool. Enjoy as pani puri with sweet dates tamarind chutney, spicy mint pani and various fillings.

Notes

Make the dough 'elastic': For the recipe we need the dough to be firm and not soft. If it is too wet the puris will turn out like bread. And if the dough is too dry the semolina puris will not puff up.

The resting time: Once the elastic dough is ready, let it rest for at least 30 minutes. This time is critical for the semolina to absorb the liquids. If the grains have not completely absorbed the liquid, the puris stand a chance to tear while rolling.

Roll the puris paper thin: We need to roll the puris super thin for them to puff well. It is easier to roll a large puri and then cut our smaller puris instead of rolling each tiny puri. Moreover, it needs to be evenly thick throughout.

Frying the puris: Put the puris in medium high heat oil. This ensures that the puris puff up on contact with the oil. Once you add the semolina puris to oil, gently press the puri down with your slotted spoon as it rises—this shocks it into puffing up.

Crisping up soggy puris: If the puris happen to lose some crunch when stored, simply pop them in an oven or air fryer at 300 F (150 C) for 2–3 minutes. They’ll crisp right back up!

Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates using an automated calculator. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.

Nutrition