Pani Puris on the GO! How to have them anytime, anywhere?

 

When you travel a lot, you miss your favorite food items. Sometimes you want smaller packets of some favorite food item but it may not be available always. Then you are forced to buy the larger packets and the remaining food items go waste. This becomes especially when a person like me is a nomad and you do not want to throw over the left-over thing. At the same time, due to limited friends you do not know to whom you want to give away the remaining food item to avoid wastage. Besides, some people do not like when you want to hand them the leftover things. They think it below their dignity to accept food substances like this. And then there are also some food substances such as pani puri masala which the receiver may not find necessarily useful when there are no puris to accompany it. So what can be done? CREATIVE IDEAS AND INNOVATION IS THE ANSWER. YES, let me explain.

Pani-puris on the GO!

I can explain it with the help of an example here. Yes, I am going to talk about pani puri, a traditional North Indian delicacy that has crossed borders and is relished worldwide now. I too like others love this item. One can buy the puris in packets of 20, 50, or 100 at a price that differs from place to place. But it will be quite expensive in the UK, mind you. So anyway, these days there are also smaller packets available in which the puris are in a solid form and one can easily fry them to get the puffed and crips puris that are an essential component of the traditional pani puri dish. So this part is easy to procure and also there will be no wastage there because in a span of 1-2 days you as a lone traveler can easily devour the full packet. But what about the pani puri masala?

Pani puri [Source: Pinterest]

Also, read here on British marvels of India! 

No smaller packets of pani-puri masala available

Pani puri masala are available in a relatively larger pack that cannot be finished in a day or two. That implies that if you are at a place for a few days only, the puris of pani puri may get over but the pani puri masala would remain. You will have to carry it along with you. And if you are traveling to another place where there are no puris available or it is a freezing cold place and you do not feel like having the pani puri, the pani puri masala will remain in your luggage and get spoiled over time. So what is the best alternative to have the pani puris and not allow wastage to happen?

Pani puri masala has the following ingredients: asafoetida, dry mango powder, black pepper, cumin, chilli, black salt, tamarind, and ginger. But the main ingredients are spices and mint with or without coriander. In Nepal, they put only spices in water without mint or coriander. That does not taste so well as the special water with mint and coriander in it. But it is still edible. If we look at the other spicy water of Indian cuisine, you will notice the similarity that pani puri masala has with Jaljira powder. The latter has cumin, ginger, black pepper, mint, black salt, some fruit powder (usually either mango, or some kind of citrus zest), and chili or hot pepper powder. Almost similar to pani puri masala. And the best part is that these days, Jaljira powder are available in sachets that can serve our purpose if do not plan to make a large quantity of pani puris and you are the only lonely traveler to relish it. So buy Jaljira sachets in place of pani puri masala and use it to make the water to go with the puris. But remember to put the sachet of Jaljira is a smaller quantity of water compared to what is directed on the sachet. It should be more concentrated compared to the Jaljira water you make for drinking purpose during the hot summer days. So you can have what you like anytime anywhere without the risk of any wastage!!!