Pani Puri

Pani puri is crisp hollow semolina shells cracked open and filled with spiced tamarind water, potato and chickpea. It is India's most theatrical street snack — assembled and eaten in a single bite, one shell at a time, straight from a street vendor's tray.

What it really is

Small discs of a semolina-and-wheat dough are deep-fried until they puff into a hollow, paper-thin, crisp ball. A vendor cracks a small hole in the top of each one, fills it with a spoonful of mashed potato and chickpea, and dunks the whole thing into a spiced, tangy, mint-and-tamarind-flavoured water before handing it straight to the guest — there is no plate stage; it goes from the vendor's hand to the guest's mouth.

It has to be eaten the instant it is filled. The shell holds its crispness for only a few seconds once the water goes in, so a pani puri assembled ahead of time has already lost the entire point of the shell.

How it is served

• One at a time, straight from the vendor, never plated in advance.
• With the water sometimes offered in two versions — spicy-tangy and sweet-tamarind — to alternate between.
• As a stand-up snack, eaten in the hand, not at a table.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the gluten in the semolina-and-wheat shell.
• It is naturally vegan and vegetarian as standard.
• Say if the shells are made in-house or bought pre-fried, since a fresh shell has a noticeably lighter, crisper structure.