Mention Gol Gappa in India and you will be hard pressed to find someone who says ' I don't like it '. It is loved by all: young and old. We all love it in our home, even my 5 year old loves it.
In India the best way to have it is at a street vendor's cart. They are famous for making these and serving multiple customers at the same time. Once you place your order, you and your party huddle around the cart or wherever else you get space and the vendor can reach you with his hand. He hands you a small plate and asks your preference, whether you like it a little sweet, tart or full blown spicy hot. Everybody has their own request and be sure that he will remember it. Once all the requests are heard he starts puncturing the puris and stuffing them with your requested stuffing - mine being always potato and channa - and dipping them in big ceramic vats containing the different 'panis' (water). Then he rapidly places it in your plate and repeats the procedure till he has served the rest of your party and then it is your turn again. He is so fast that you do not have to wait at all, in fact sometimes you are still finishing the first and he has served the next, then you hear everyone asking him to slow down. The fun of having it at the street vendor's cart adds to the taste and excitement of eating pani puris.
At home you can adopt that style and serve everyone, as for me I do not have that patience to watch everyone eat while I just serve. So I place individual bowls of pani next to the 10-15 stuffed puris in a plate per person . Thus everyone can fill their own puris with pani and stuff them in their mouths. The way to eat it is to place the whole thing in your mouth in one go, no hesitation or else you have have a wet crumbly mess in your hands. Just pop them in your mouth and the puri bursts and your whole mouth is flooded with the pani. It is an amazing sensation, try it and see, you will love it. Just be sure to make the puris just small enough so that they will fit right in your mouths.
For those of you who want to enjoy these savoury snacks without going through the hassle of rolling 60-80 small puris, you can get ready made pani puris at your local Indian grocery store. I decided to make mine as the ones that I get here have a very stale smell to them. I, however, used ready-made pani.
.JPG)
