King of Chats - Origin and Birth

King of Chats - Origin and Birth
              
                              Golgappa/Gupchup/Pani ki patashe/ Phulkis. These much names, all over india, for one particular food. More than a food, it's an emotion to all. Cracking the top layer of puris, stuffing the potato masal inside, drizzling the sweet chutney and dipping the whole puri in Mint+Jeera water,    mmmmmmm mmmmm...... would be the expression of everyone. Panipuri holds lot of memories to everyone of us.The distinctive thing in eating this Panipuri is, it has to be eaten in a single gulp, feeling the sweet at the tip of the tongue, sourness of the chutney and pani in the bilateral sides of the tongue and finally biting that soggy potato stuffed puri within 25 rupees.It is common sight to see the friends sharing the Panipuri from a single plate which makes them feel bonded together. Most of the youngsters usually hold competition to see who can gulp down most golgappas.(How can we forget our Favourite Panipuri scene in Rab ne Bana de Jodi?)Now, lets look at the History of  Panipuri a.k.a Golgappa.



                          Eventhough, we don't have any historical evidence for the invention of Panipuri, all the things are widely believed by everyone. In the epic Mahabharata, the newly-wedded Draupadi returns home to be given a task by her mother-in-law Kunti. The Pandavas were on exile and Kunti wanted to test if her new daughter-in-law would be able to manage with the scarce resources. So she gave Draupadi some leftover potato sabji and just enough wheat dough to make one puri, instructing her to make food that would satisfy the hunger of all five of her sons. It is believed that this was when the new bride invented Pani puri. Impressed with her daughter-in-law’s ingenuity, Kunti blessed the dish with immortality. 

                Another set of peoples say that, One of the 16 Mahajanapadas (great kingdoms in Sanskrit) of ancient India, the Magadhan empire was situated on the banks of River Ganga (now west-central Bihar). It is believed that phulkis (the precursor to pani puri) first originated in Magadh at a time when several traditional specialities of the region, like chitba, pitthow, tilba and chewda of Katarni rice, were evolving. The culinary genius who invented them is lost in the pages of history, but if, we Indians had known who invented pani puri (or whatever you call this yummy snack), we would have thanked that person for generations!. This Panipuri is also a mother to lot of other recipes like Masal puri, Ragda Pattice, Dahi Puri and Sev puri. It's also an important thing to notice, though panipuri is served in Top 5star hotels and Restaurants, people would like to have that with the street vendors. It's no wonder, why it's considered as King of Chats.


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