Gol Gappay as canapés

I often serve them Gol Gappay canapés at my catering events and supper clubs. I have made them countless times and developed my own recipe for the filling and the imli water. I serve the puris in an oversized silver thali and the flavoured water in vintage silver teapots. I love watching guests delicately handle each puff, then pour over the water, and I offer them the same advice my dad once gave me: “eat it quickly before it falls apart”. And, in one bite, they inhale the whole puri inside their mouth, giggling as they attempt not to make a mess. We laugh together, they become part of my memories of Gol Gappay, something I can hand over, and something I can keep as mine. 

You can buy the ingredients for Gol Gappay from your local South Asian grocery store.

Notes on the puris: one could make the puris from scratch, although I find that quite unnecessary. You can buy dry pastry discs and fry them at home, and they will puff up perfectly into delicate crispy balls. Alternatively, you can buy pre-fried puri shells, if you’re weary of your kitchen smelling of a fry up. They usually come in boxes of 40, and they are so delicate, you are likely to waste up to 10 puris during transit or if you’re too heavy-handed and crush the puris when making a hollow. I factor 2 per head, but I cannot determine how many one person will eat. I have been known to eat 37 in one sitting.

Ingredients

1 box of pre-fried Gol Gappay
1 medium sized potato
Half a jar of chickpeas (The jarred chickpeas from  Bold Bean co, Brindisa, Belazu, which are some of the up-market, high street brands, are softer in texture. You are welcome to use tinned chickpeas as well.)
1 tsp chaat masala 
1 small red onion
1 handful of fresh pomegranate seeds
Tamarind sauce (this can’t be measured and you will see why!)
1 handful of fresh coriander leaves
Napkins

Imli Water 
1 cup boiling water
¼ cup tamarind paste
¼ cup crumbled jaggery
1.5 tsp chaat masala
½ tsp black salt
¼ tsp white pepper
1 tsp cumin seed powder
1 tsp coriander seed powder
1 tsp salt (to taste)

Method

To make the water, add all the ingredients in a heat proof jar. Screw on the lid and give it a good shake until the sugar and tamarind dissolve. Leave aside to serve later.

Peel and dice the potato into 1cm chunks. 

Boil the potato chunks in salted water, until they’re cooked through. Don’t overcook the potato though: they should hold together still. You can test this by scooping one piece out with a spoon and taste it.

Drain the potatoes, add the chickpeas and the chaat masala. Mix together, gently crushing the potatoes and bringing everything together.

Finely dice the red onion. Set aside.

In terms of timing for what comes next, which is the assembling stage of the recipe, I recommend waiting until 5 to 10 minutes before you’re due to serve the dish before filling up the semolina puffs. 

Crack the top of the semolina puff shell with the tip of a tablespoon handle. I’m being specific with the utensil here because it’s easy to break the whole shell!

Fill the shell with half a teaspoon of the boiled potato and chickpea mixture, a sprinkle of red onion, pomegranate seeds, a drop of tamarind sauce, and a few leaves of fresh coriander. 

Serve the imli water alongside the assembled puffs and some napkins. Now encourage your guests to  pour the water over the puffs themselves, and to eat the Gol Gappa immediately. This is when the napkins come into play - eating Gol Gappay can be a messy affair, trust me on this one.

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