Pani puri, Golgappe, Puchka…whatever your city calls it, we know you love it. These bite-sized treats are a street snack that is loved across the nation and without restraint. And it seems that today, Google is also paying homage to the sacred snack food in their unique Google Doodle game to spread the love around the world.
The interactive Doodle game challenges you to serve up everyone’s pani puri order according to their preferences, but watch out, you lose a life every time you get one wrong. The game is definitely a reflection of life as this delectable treat comes in a myriad of different flavours and combinations. There's a pani puri variation to suit every palate and to prove that, on this day in 2015, a restaurant in Indore, achieved a World Record by offering an astonishing 51 different flavours of pani puri.
The snack is one that traverses all regional barriers. In Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, it goes by the name pani puri and typically consists of bite-sized treats filled with boiled chickpeas, a white pea mixture, and sprouts, all immersed in tangy and spicy pani. In the northern Indian states of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and New Delhi, the potato and chickpea-filled delicacy dipped in jaljeera-flavoured water is referred to as gol gappe or gol gappa. In West Bengal and parts of Bihar and Jharkhand, it is called puchkas or fuchkas, with tamarind pulp being the key ingredient for this variety.
Though they may be universally recognised today, their origin is still somewhat of a mystery. According to one legend, the origins of pani puri can be traced back to the ancient Indian kingdom of Magadha. In those times, this delightful snack was known as 'Phulki' and had a smaller and crispier form. According to another belief, the epic Mahabharata tells the tale of how pani puri came to be. It is said that Draupadi, a newlywed, faced the challenge of feeding five men with limited resources. With only some leftover aloo sabzi and a small amount of wheat dough at her disposal, Draupadi ingeniously crafted small pieces of fried dough and filled them with the potato and vegetable mixture. Thus, pani puri was born.
Whatever the true origin of the snack, a few things everyone can agree on are that they need to be eaten fresh and crispy, in one bite and of course, that nobody can stop at just one!