Dahi Puri

Dahi puri belongs to Mumbai's 20th-century street-chaat tradition and is generally described as a variant of sev puri in which whisked yogurt becomes the defining topping. It is closely tied to the chaat vendors of the city's seafront and markets — Chowpatty Beach among the best known — where the puffed-shell snacks of the Mumbai sea-face took shape through the mid-20th century. Like the rest of the chaat family, its name comes from the Hindi-Urdu chaatna, 'to lick'; dahi simply means yogurt and puri the crisp hollow shell. The deep-fried puffed shell it shares with pani puri is a wheat-and-semolina crisp that puffs hollow in hot oil.

A whole shell goes in at once and bursts: the thin crisp puri gives way to a cool, soft center of potato and creamy yogurt. The first taste is the mild tang of yogurt, then the sweet-sour tamarind and the green chili's heat behind it, with chaat masala adding a salty, sulfurous lift and the sev a final savory crunch. It is cold, soft and crisp at the same time, and meant to be eaten the instant it is dressed — the yogurt softens the shell within minutes, so a sturdy fresh puri is essential.

Dahi puri is assembled to order, and the contrast of crisp shell against cold wet toppings is the whole point — which is why it is dressed and served in the same minute. The hollow puris are deep-fried in advance: a stiff wheat-and-semolina dough, rolled thin, hits oil at around 180°C and the surface sets fast while trapped steam inflates it into a rigid, dry sphere that stays crisp until wetted. The yogurt is whisked smooth with a little sugar and salt to a pourable cream, balancing the chutneys' acid and heat. As with all chaat, chaat masala — built on black salt (kala namak) — supplies a tangy, mildly sulfurous seasoning that distinguishes it from ordinary salt.