Pani puri: India's famous street snack ^{CEFR B1}

Pani puri is a popular Indian street snack made from small hollow puris that vendors fill with spiced potatoes, chickpeas, raw onions and tangy spices. Each filled puri is dunked into a watery dip, commonly mint or tamarind based, so the eater gets a burst of flavour in one bite.

Food historians link an early form called phulki to Magadha (544–322 BCE), and a Mahabharata tale about Draupadi is one of several stories that try to explain the snack’s origin. The dish appears under many regional names: phuchka in eastern states, gol gappa in the north and other names in the west.

Regional versions differ: eastern Phuchka often uses Ghugni (black chickpeas or spiced peas); northern Gol Gappa commonly uses mashed potatoes and tamarind liquid; western versions use green or white peas with mint-coriander and a sweet tamarind-jaggery water. Pani puri has also travelled abroad to countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Malaysia and Australia, and public reactions have included students in Budapest praising it in April 2025 and a viral video from Curry Corner in June 2024 that reached 3.9 million views.