If I had to pick my favourite street food of all times, it would be gol gappe. I have spent many a days and nights lined up in front of a Gol Gappa hawker, waiting for those delicious, mouth-watering and spicy gol gappe. In that moment, I don’t care about the scorching sun or the questionable hygiene of the stall, all I want to relish is the gol gappe – the spicier, the better!
As I moved away from Delhi and reached the land of pani puri, a lot changed. Shakespeare said ‘what’s in a name’, well I would like to answer that – EVERYTHING. You see, the moment we transition from gol gappe to pani puri, it loses its charm. The water tastes different, the spices taste different, the shells tase different and so does the filling inside. I hope everyone gets to experience Delhi Gol Gappe at least once to realise what they’re missing out in life.
Below is the recipe for Gol Gappe, its filling and the lovely water accompaniment
Gol Gappe
Ingredients:
1 cup semolina (sooji)
1 tsp wheat flour (atta)
1 tsp all purpose flour (maida)
Salt
Baking soda (optional)
Oil
Recipe:
Mix semolina with the flour and add a pinch of salt to it. Mix some soda and water and make the dough firm and elastic.
Keep the dough aside for 30 minutes after covering with a damp cloth to ensure it doesn’t dry out.
Roll into thin sheets and cut out small circles in them which would be fried.
Heat the oil on high flame and bring the flame to medium before putting the round dough.
Place not more than 2-3 at a time and keep turning them over till they swell up into big shells. This process is similar to what many Indian households use while frying puris.
Take the shells out and make even holes in it for masala fillings and gol gappa water
Filling
Ingredients:
2 potatoes
Half a cup of chickpea
Boondi
Recipe:
Soak chickpea overnight and cook them in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes.
Boil potatoes in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles.
Season these fillings with salt, red chilli powder, onion and whatever you would want to experiment with. I didn’t have chickpeas so I just used some potatoes and boondi.
Gol Gappa Water
Ingredients:
Coriander
Mint leaves
Cumin (Jeera)
Asoefetida (Hing)
6 lemons
Raw mango (Kaccha Aam)
2-3 green chillies
Salt
Pepper
Sugar
Recipe:
Dry roast jeera and hing and crush them into a fine powder as it’s difficult to blend them in a mixer. Check image below to see the process hack for crushing it.
Take all the ingredients and add them to an electronic mixer. Mix till it’s of smooth consistency.
Add water to the mix and check the flavour, add more lemons if required. If the water comes out to be very spicy, add some sugar to balance the taste.
With this, the gol gappa experience is available in your home 🙂
I’ve not included the recipe for meethi saunth here as I prefer my gol gappe tangy and spicy. Might add later.
Enjoy! 🙂
