What are pani puri? The much-loved Indian street snack known by different names across the country

Google Doodle celebrates the humble bite-sized, savoury dish best eaten whole – and quickly

(Getty Images)

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates one of India’s most famous street food snacks – the bite-sized pani puri.

The dish is one of India’s most popular street foods and can incorporate many different flavours depending on the ingredients used and where in the country it is being made.

The popular snack consists of a crispy, deep-fried shell that is cracked open on one side and stuffed with any combination of potatoes, chickpeas, spices or chillies dunked in flavoured water.

The tiny snack is best eaten quickly in rounds, with customers dipping the shell into the water and popping it whole into their mouths before the next shell is offered.

The sweet and savoury dish goes by different names in different parts of India.

In capital Delhi, it is known as gol gappa, while in West Bengal, Bihar and Nepal, the snack is called phuchka.

In southwestern Maharashtra, it is known by the staple pani puri, while in northern Haryana state, it is called paani patashi. In central Madhya Pradesh, the snack goes by fulki and in Uttar Pradesh, it’s called pani ke batashe or padake.

In the northeastern state of Assam, locals call it the phuska, while Gujaratis call it pakodi.

In parts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, locals call the snack Gup-chup.

The process of making the humble pani puri is simple and the filling can be made according to the preference of the person eating it.

The options usually consist of a potato stuffing, mashed chickpeas stuffing, boondi or tiny fried gram flour balls. A hot ragda stuffing can also be used, which is a curry or gravy preparation made from dried white peas, spices and seasonings.

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The server pokes a hole in the deep-drief hollow shell called the puri and fills the stuffing in it.

The flavoured water, or pani in Hindi, used to dunk the filling is made either of tamarind, asafoetida, mint, garlic, lemon or jaljeera – a type of flavoured water made with chilli, cumin (jeera) and water (jal, which is another word for water) – and is served to customers one by one.

One plate of pani puri usually consists of six to eight bites and costs between Rs 20-40 (£0.20-£0.40).

(Hardik Monga/Unsplash)

The staple Indian snack is available in almost every north Indian restaurant locally and has only grown in popularity abroad.

London’s high end Indian restaurants, like Dishoom, Roti Chai, Indian Accent and Gunpowder, also serve the dish.

The snack is best enjoyed when the flavoured water is served cold.

Today’s Google Doodle features a bespoke video game in which players “serve” customers’ orders for pani puri with different fillings.

Google said 12 July marked the anniversary of a World Record set in 2015 for the most flavours of pani puri offered by one restaurant. It was claimed by eatery Indori Zayka in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.