After coming to bangalore, the first thing I probably did was to google for Kolhapuri Misal. My search ended on Sia’s blog Monsoon Spice.

I followed the recipe to the ‘T’ and the end result was as tasty as ever. As I followed the recipe as is with minor adjustments in spice level, I am not rewriting the recipe here. This Kolhapuri Misal recipe is detailed along with mentioning their original sources and due credits.

So have a spicy kolhapuri misal with pav or bread and keep a tissue ready if you get a running nose or tears in your eyes at the sight of spice ;)!!

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!!

I am posting this recipe of Sabudana Vada today. This is the first dish that I ate which was prepared by my mother-in-law. It was the yummiest vada I had ever eaten. The dish also brings back some sweet memories :).

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup Sabudana (Sago)
3 medium sized potatoes
1 cup Roasted Peanuts
3 green chillies
2 tbsp Coriander leaves
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp Lime juice
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:
Soak the sabudana in water for about 2 hours. The water should be sufficient to cover the sabudana. I soak this overnight so that the sabudana soaks evenly. Drain out all the excess water

Boil the potatoes and peel them. Mash the boiled potatoes. Keep aside. Grind the roasted peanuts to a coarse powder.

Grind the coriander leaves, green chillies, lime juice and cumin seeds without water. The paste does not have to be fine. Lesser the water, the better as we need to deep fry the vadas.
In a bowl, mix the mashed potatoes, the ground peanuts, the ground paste, sabudana and salt. Mix well so that the mixture binds itself so that it does not disintegrate while deep frying.
Divide into sixteen portions. Flatten between the palms to give it a patty like shape.

Heat oil for deep frying. Once the oil is hot, add the vadas to the oil. Fry on medium-high flame. Fry completely on one side and then turn it. Fry till the vada turns a nice golden color.

Server hot with peanut and yogurt chutney or any chutney of your choice! :)

Ingredients:
A big bowl of egg bhurji
12 bread slices
Butter

Method:
For the recipe of egg bhurji, visit the recipe here.

Heat the sandwich maker. While the sandwich maker heats up, apply butter to both sides of the bread. Spread a layer of the egg bhurji on one bread slice. Place another slice of bread on the top. If you find the sandwich too thin, repeat the procedure to add a third slice of bread. Now place the sandwich in the sandwich maker to grill it.

If you don’t like it grilled or do not have the sandwich maker, there are two options. You can either eat it plain or fry the slice of bread on  both sides on the tava first and then spread the egg bhurji.

Either way serve hot with tea! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Puffed Rice
2 medium onions finely chopped
2 small tomatoes finely chopped
3-4 green chillies chopped
8-10 stems of cilantro (coriander leaves) finely chopped
1 tsp lime juice
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp split dalia powder (putani pudi in Kannada)
Pinch of turmeric
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat oil and add the green chillies. Add only one chopped onion and fry for couple of minutes. Fry the onion till its half done. Now, add one chopped tomato and fry for a min on high flame. Add turmeric and mix well.

Now add the puffed rice, remaining onion, tomato, coriander leaves, split dalia powder, salt and mix well. Turn off the flame and add the lime juice. Mix well.

Serve while hot else the puffed rice will become soft!!

Ingredients:
10-12 slices of Bread
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Urad daal(White Lentils)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds(jeera)
Few curry leaves
3-4 chopped green chillies
2 tsp Sugar
Pinch of turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Oil

Method:
Cut out the edges of the bread(This is optional. I do it only if the edges are really hard). Then cut the slice into small cubes.

Heat oil. Add the mustard seeds. Once the mustard begins to splutter, add the white lentils(urad daal) and jeera. Add the chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Stir it for half a minute and then add the turmeric powder. Add the bread cubes. Sprinkle very little milk on top to make the upma soft. Add salt and sugar. Toss well.

Bread upma is ready to eat!!

Ingredients:
1 cup Maida
1 cup fine Rava(chiroti rava in Kannada)
2-3 green chillies
1 tsp red chilli powder
Pepper powder to taste
1 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
2 medium onions-finely chopped
Salt to taste
Oil for deep-frying

Method:
Mix all the ingredients into a thick mixture with water. Heat oil. Once hot lower the flame to sim. Make small portions of the mixture and deep fry in oil. Fry till golden brown. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or sweet chutney!