Panipuri For A Good Cause

Satisfaction - [C or U] a pleasant feeling which you get when you receive something you wanted, or when you have done something you wanted to do.

It was last July when I had a brief conversation with Rashmi about helping a non-profit in India called 'Ekalavya Nyas, Pune'. She had just visited the organization and met Renutai Gavaskar, driving force of that organization. She has also written about it here. We started thinking about organizing a fundraising event to help this organization but we were not sure how to go about it. When there is a will there is a way! We got in touch with another friend who sets up food stalls at various events and all the money collected from these events is donated to different charities. We both loved the idea and decided to ask around for any event coming up soon. Ganapati festival was just around the cornet so we decided to ask MMBA if we can host a food stall. MMBA agreed immediately and one hurdle was over. Next was to decide the menu, quantity of food, work schedules etc. Long story short, everything fell in place in no time. We got few more friends to help us at the stall that day. All of them came just with one phone call, no questions asked. We sold Kacchi Dabeli, vegetable cutlets, chocolate cupcakes. Rashmi and I both were extremely happy and tired at the end of the day! We decided to do it again next year!!!

Fast forward to the next year! Rashmi and I were eager to do it again this year but we wanted to ask around if any other friends are ready to help. This year MMBA Ganapati was during Labor day weekend so we were not sure if would get any help. But all our friends proved us wrong and said yes! Now we were group of 7 and their family members. We had decided to make Kacchi Dabeli, Sabudana Khichadi and Chocolate cupcakes. But the other food stall had decided to make Sabudana Khichadi and they had already told MMBA about their plans. We had to choose something else just 5 days before the actual event.  Unanimously we decided to make Panipuri. We knew we will be loosing morning crowd to Sabudana Khichadi but we were confident to make money in the evening rush. We divided the workload, the time slots at the stall over just 3 phone calls and we were all set. One person got all the paper dishes etc, two people made cupcakes,  two did dabeli stuffing, two did all chutneys.

Five of us went at the venue at 8am with 3 large cool cages, a microwave, a rice cooker, an electric griddle, 500 panipuris, 15 loaves of bread buns, and enormous amounts of bags in our hands. We setup everything and were ready for our first customer. Afternoon was bit slow as people went to have lunch. We all got busy in the evening. We closed the stall 8.30pm as we ran out of dabeli filling and breads. Whole experience gave all of us immense satisfaction! We hope to do it again next year. Marathi article about the whole experience can be read here. 

All our items were hit. I have already blogged about chocolate cupcakes, dabeli, date laddoos. Here is how we made the panipuris - 

(Proportions are for 100 puris) 

Panipuri ka Pani -

1 Packet of MDH Panipuri Masala
10-15 Mint Leaves
2 Green Chilies
10-15 Stalks of Cilantro

Green Chutney -

2 cup chopped cilantro
2 cup mint leaves
6-7 Green chilies
salt, sugar and lime juice - per taste

Extra Hot Green Chutney -

10-15 Thai Bird Chilies
10-15 Mint leaves
1/2 tbsp Black Peppercorns
2 Small Garlic Cloves
2 tbsp Roasted Chana Daal
Salt per taste

Sweet Chutney -

1/2 cup Tamarind Pulp (as thick as possible)
10-15 Pitted Dates
1/4 cup Jaggery
salt, red chili powder - per taste
1 tsp Roasted Cumin powdered

Filling -

2-3 Potatoes
1/2 cup Mung beans
1/2 cup White Peas
Salt per taste

 

Preparation -

Panipuri ka Pani -
The day before you are planning to make Panipuri, make a thick paste of MDH panipuri masala with just enough water. The next day, grind panipuri paste, mint leaves, cilantro leaves and green chilies. Add 6-7 cups of water to the paste to make Pani. Chill this water until you ready to serve. Add about 1 cup of ice to water if you are in hurry.

Green Chutney -
Grind everything to fine paste. Taste and chill until you are ready to use it.

Extra Hot Green Chutney -
Roast green chilies, black pepper, and roasted chana dal. Grind everything together. Make this chutney with extreme caution and only if you think, you will need it.

Sweet Chutney -
Grind everything together. Adjust sweetness. This chutney is supposed to be sweet so adjust sweetness if necessary. Make a thick paste and then adjust water at the time you are ready to use it.

Filling -
Boil potatoes peal and cube them 1/4" pieces.
Boil Mung beans with little salt but the beans should not be disintegrating.
Boil white peas with salt and it should be almost mushy.
Mix everything together adjust salt and keep it warm while you are ready for the assembly.

Assembly -

Keep all the bowls with all chutneys, water and filling ready. Carefully poke holes in the puris (1/2" round). Add green chutney to the pani, just enough to make pani enough spicy per your taste. Add extra hot chutney to puris to only if you want to.
Add filling to puri, add thin sev(shev) to puris. Add sweet chutney and then dip these puris in the the spiced water! Put the whole puri in your mouth and enjoy as many as you can!!!

Tips -

• You can prepare everything ahead of time. And assemble the puris at the last moment.
• You can serve water per person in small creamers and your guests can assemble their own panipuris.
• I love drinking this spiced up panipuri water. So I make it bit sweet and dont use any extra hot chutney.