Hollow crispy balls filled with spiced mashed potato and black chickpeas, then dipped into a tangy, sweet-sour tamarind water with a specific Odia spice blend. The most popular street snack of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
Ingredients
For the gupchup shells (or buy 24 ready-made pani puri shells):
1/2 cup semolina, 2 tbsp maida, a pinch of salt, soda water to knead
oil for deep frying
For the filling:
2 medium potato — boiled and mashed
1/2 cup black chickpeas — boiled (or use regular chickpeas)
1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/4 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp amchur, salt to taste
For the Odia pani (tangy water):
1 lemon-sized ball tamarind dissolved in 2 cups water, strained
1 cup cold water
1 tsp black salt (kala namak)
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
a small bunch of coriander — blended with 1/4 cup water, strained
1 tsp sugar, salt to taste
Method
Make the gupchup shells (skip if using ready-made): Mix semolina, maida and salt. Add soda water gradually to form a stiff dough. Rest 20 minutes. Roll thin (1 to 2 mm). Cut into small rounds using a small glass. Deep fry in hot oil — press each down with a spoon as it fries so it puffs into a hollow ball. Fry on medium until golden. Drain.
Make the potato-chickpea filling: Mix mashed potato with boiled black chickpeas, cumin powder, red chilli powder, amchur and salt. Mix well. Taste — it should be spiced and tangy.
Make the pani: Combine strained tamarind water with cold water, black salt, roasted cumin powder, red chilli powder, strained coriander water, sugar and salt. Stir well. Taste — the Odia gupchup pani should be both sour and slightly sweet with a strong tamarind note. Refrigerate.
Check the shells: Take one shell. Using your thumb, make a small hole in the top centre by pressing inward. The shell should be hollow inside. If any shells are not hollow, they were not fried correctly.
Fill just before eating: Fill each shell with 1 tsp of the potato-chickpea filling, pressing in firmly.
Dip in the cold pani: Take a filled gupchup in one hand. Dip it entirely into the bowl of cold tangy pani — let it fill slightly through the top hole.
Eat in one bite: Pop the entire gupchup into your mouth in one bite. The explosion of the tangy pani mixing with the spiced filling inside the crispy shell is the experience.
Continue for each piece: Fill, dip and eat each gupchup one at a time. The shells soften within seconds of dipping so they must be eaten immediately.
Refill the pani bowl: Keep extra cold pani in a jug to refill the dipping bowl as needed.
Serve with extra chutney: Optionally serve a small side of sweet tamarind chutney for those who want extra sweetness between bites.
Note: Gupchup is the Odia name for what is called pani puri in North India and puchka in West Bengal. Each region has its own version — the Odia version is distinguishable by the use of black chickpeas in the filling (rather than white peas or sprouts) and a pani that has both the sour tamarind note and a slight sweetness. In Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, gupchup stalls open from 4 pm and the queue of customers lasts until late evening.