Excerpt from The Best Kolkata Phuchka …….Just like its politics, football, cinema and songs, Kolkata gets divided over its phuchka too. For the unknown, the Phuchka is Kolkata’s version of Paani Puri but just like the famous Chinese dishes in Kolkata have their Kolkata touch, the Kolkata Phuchka is also unique to the city for the stuffing of spicy mashed potato enhanced with gondhoraj lime juice and tangy tamarind water. There is rarely a situation where the mashed potatoes are not customised to the buyer’s tastes.

While the Mumbai or the western version is called Pani puri, where the stuffing is primarily the white peas or the matar and the various types of Paani or water that goes as filling (also includes a variant which is little sweet), the Gol Gappas are primarily North Indian. Just like the Pani puri, the filling here is also focused more on chickpeas rather than aloo. It’s also called pani ke bataashe in UP, where the filling is with white peas and options of two or three types of water and same as the ones served in MP. Although I must say, I love the name ‘phulki’ in MP.

Phuchka Aloo

Phuchka_Golgappa

Making Kolkata Phuchka at home

It’s not difficult to make Kolkata phuchka at home. The real taste comes from the bhaja moshla and the tamarind water. These days, phuchkawalas also keep sweet water along with the sour tamarind water. You can choose sweet, sour, or a mix of both when you eat phuchka.

The bhaja moshla uses many spices. Roast them till they turn dark and then grind them. The mix usually has cumin, coriander, fennel, mace, nutmeg, bay leaf, cassia, cloves, cardamom, and black pepper. The tamarind water is simple. Soak tamarind and use its water. After that, add bhaja moshla, black salt, coriander roots, salt, sugar, and gondhoraj lemon. That’s it.

phuchka with aloo

Tamarind water in Phuchka (3)

Phuchka (6)

Kolkata Phuchka

Kolkata Phuchka (2)

A few different food that you will find at a phuchka stall:

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Phuchka

KOlkata Phuchka

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Course: Appetizers

Cuisine: Bengali, Indian

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

Bhaja moshla for phuchka

1 bayleaf
3 dried red chilies
1 inch cinnamon/ cassia stick
5 cloves
4 green cardamom
1 tbsp black peppercorn
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 blade mace
¼ nutmeg crushed

Tamarind water

1 lemon-sized ball of tamarind
black salt to taste
sugar to taste
1 gondhoraj lemon
phuchka masala to taste
1 tsp chopped coriander roots

Other ingredients

25 empty shells of phuchka/golgappa
5 medium-sized boiled potatoes
salt to taste
black salt to taste
phuchka masala to taste
½ cup boiled matar
1 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
2 green chilies, chopped

Method

First step is to make the bhaja moshla. Dry roast all the ingredients and then grind them into a fine powder. This is your phuchka masala.
Soak the tamarind in half litre of water for 30 minutes. Squeeze out all the pulp. Strain this and then mix it with all the ingredients mentioned above. Use phuchka masala as needed.
Mash the boiled potatoes, add all the ingredients mentioned.
In phuchka, everything is about balance of taste. You have to taste it while mashing to get the perfect taste.
Add 2-3 empty shells in the aloo masala for a little crunch.
Now crack a shell, fill it with potato filling, dunk it in the tamarind water and serve.