Misal Pav is one of the most common street food in Maharahstra. I had heard a lot about the tasty misal pav from T. One weekend I decided to give it a shot. The dish came out very well and it is quite filling. I am not sure if it tasted like the original misal pav, but it did taste wonderful.

I have used only matki and moong in this dish. You could also add sprouted musoor as mentioned here.

Ingredients for usal:
1 cup sprouted matki (moth bean)
1 cup sprouted moong (green gram)
2 medium potatoes boiled and cut into cubes
3 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
2 medium size onions roughly chopped
10 garlic cloves
1-2″ piece ginger
10-15 mint leaves (pudina)
1/2 cup grated coconut
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
4-5 cloves
2-3 peppercorn
1″ cinnamon
1 tbsp tamarind pulp or to taste
salt to taste
sugar to taste

Other Ingredients:
1 heaped cup of chivda
1 heaped cup of fine sev
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup chopped onion
some freshly chopped coriander leaves for garnish
1 cup well beaten yogurt (optional)
Pav or bread

Method:
Cook the sprouted moong and matki. Make sure they cook nicely but are not mashed.

Grind the 1 medium onion along with ginger, garlic, mint and coconut to a fine paste. Grind the cumin, coriander seeds, cloves, cinnamon and peppercorn to a fine powder.

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. Once they start popping, add asafoetida and turmeric powder. Then, add the ground paste. Fry on high heat for about 3 mins and then on medium heat till the raw smell is gone and the mixture oozes out oil.

Now, add the ground powder and fry for a minute. Once done, add the tamarind pulp, salt, sugar and mix well. To this, add the cooked moong and matki along with the potatoes. Add desired amount of water (2-3 cups). The gravy should not be too watery. Bring to a boil. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes on low flame.

To Assemble:
Place the misal in a plate/bowl. Add yogurt, chopped tomato, chopped onion. Add chivda and sev on top.

Serve hot with bread or pav… fried or as is!!

The street food is such an integral part of our lives. Be it bunking college to go and have chaats at a nearby stall or going for a stroll in the evening to have a gol gappa. One such integral part of street food is the aloo tikki.

Aloo tikki can be had by itself with tomato ketchup or tamarind/coriander chutney. It is also used in preparing chaats like ragda pattice. Tastes yummy either way.. If you like chaats and aloo.. you will enjoy this one!

Ingredients:
2 large potatoes – boiled and grated or mashed
1 medium onion finely chopped (optional)
4-5 green chillies finely chopped or to taste
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
1/2 tsp chaat masala (optional)
1 tbsp kasuri methi
2 tbsp roasted and peeled peanuts – crushed (optional)
Breadcrumbs or semolina as needed
Salt to taste
Oil for shallow frying

Method:
In a bowl, add the grated or mashed potatoes. To this add onion, kasuri methi, peanuts, green chillies, coriander leaves. Mix well. Now, add the salt, chaat masala or amchur, cumin powder. If you like your tikkis to have a bit of a colour you could add a pinch of turmeric. Mix well. If you think the mixture needs more binding, take a couple of bread slices without edges, dip in water for 2 seconds and add it to the potato mixture. This will make sure the tikkis do not break and add taste too.

Grease your palms with very little oil. Make equal portion of the mixture. Take each portion and make a ball with your palms. Flatten it a bit to make tikki out of it.

Heat a non stick tawa or a skillet. Once hot, drizzle a few drops of oil. Now, roll the tikki in breadcrumb or semolina and place it on the hot tawa. If you do not have either breadcrumb or semolina, frying them without this works as well. Fry on medium-low flame. Turn the tikki  once one side is golden brown (would need 3-4 mins). Fry till the other side is golden brown.

Serve hot with ketchup or sweet chutney or any chutney of your choice!!

While preparing this chutney I did not use dates. That is the reason I have mentioned it as optional in the ingredients. Adding dates takes away the authentic street chaat taste :D. In case you are using dates, you can reduce the quantity of jaggery as both contribute to sweetness.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp jaggery (powdered)
8-9 dates (optional)
Tamarind – a lemon sized ball
½ -1 tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp cumin powder (jeera powder)
½ tsp fennel (saunf)
Salt to taste

 Method:

Mix all the ingredients and add needed amount of water. Bring to a boil. Lower the flame and let the mixture simmer till it thickens. Do not let the mixture get too thick because after turning off the flame, it tends to thicken some more due to jaggery.

The sweet chutney or saunth is ready to go into any chaat!!

Ingredients:
1 Totapuri mango cut into 1cm cubes
6 Babycorns
1 tbsp lime juice
3 green chillies
Salt to taste

Method:
Grind the green chillies to a dry paste. Fry the babycorns on flame with the skin till cooked on all sides. Peel off the skin and slice them into thin round slices. Take the sliced mangoes in a bowl, add the babycorn slices, green chilli paste, lime juice, salt and mix well. And the tangy mouth watering chaat is ready!