Sukha Bhel - Dry Bhel

Sukha Bhel is one of the snack that you enjoy as a street food in the city of Mumbai. Sukha means dry... unlike the bhel puri where the tamarind and green chutneys are added to it, this has a humble green chilly chutney mixed with herbs to make the bhel more interesting.

In the Gas Station here, there is always a big queue for filling and waiting is definitely not an interesting thing until the arrival of Bhel Wala. Few hesitate and few like me just get out and explore the taste of the street food.  This tasty bhel help time pass till our turn arrives. I tasted it again and again and I tried to find the different flavours that comes in the bhel and experimented in my kitchen lab and finally presenting the nearest one to the authentic bhel recipe.

What you need for the Bhel :-

1. Bhel (Murmura / Pori / Puffed Rice)
2. Coriander leaves - finely chopped
3. Onion - finely chopped
4. Tomato (optional) - finely chopped
5. Fine sev
6. Roasted channa dal
7. Lemon
8. Green Chutney for sukha bhel

For the sukha bhel Green chutney :-

1. Finely chopped Onion - 1 tbsp
2. Garlic pod - 1 no. (big)
3. Finely chopped coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
4. Curry leaves - 6 nos
5. Green Chillies - 10 nos. (or as per your preference)
6. Chat masala - a pinch
7. Lemon juice - 1/4 tsp
8. Salt - use only a little as the puffed rice, roasted gram and the sev has some salt
9. Roasted gram (chutney dal / pottu kadalai) - 2tbsp

Grind together the ingredients mentioned except lemon juice... add little bit of lemon juice and give a final grinding.

For making the Bhel :-

Keep the ingredients ready and Mix them just before serving.

In a mixing bowl, add the ingredients given for the Bhel and mix well. 

You can serve in a bowl or roll a cone out of paper or the pamphlets and make it more intereting.

Garnish by squeezing few drops of lemon juice and sprinkle little coriander leaves and the roasted gram and little sev on top.

Tasty and flavourful Sukha Bhel /Dry Bhel is ready!!! 

Kutchi Daabeli

Daabeli originated in the Kutch region of Guajarat. It is a salty, spicy, tangy, sweet snack. Aloo masala is stuffed inside the ladi pav, garnished with onion, coriander leaves, pomegrante seeds and sev. Buttered & roasted crispy on tawa top.

Dabeli will not be good in all shops. If you keep hunting, if you are lucky you will end up finding a good one. Most of the shops sell only the sweetest ones. So tried to prepare at home suiting to our taste with an equal ratio of the different tastes and flavour. sharing with you the recipe.

Prepare the Daabeli Masala Powder

Ingridients :- (makes 3 Nos)

1. Potato - 2 medium sized
2. Jeera - 1/2 tsp
3. Butter / ghee / oil - 2 tbsp
4. Daabeli Masala - 1 tsp
5. Salt to taste
6. Water
7. Onion - 1
8. Pomegranate seeds - 2 tbsp
9. Coriander leaves - 3 tbsp
10. Sev - 2 tbsp (optional)
11. Garlic Groundnut chutney
12. Tamarind Chutney
13. Green spicy chutney
14. Pav bread

Procedure :- 

• Boil, peel and mash potatoes completely
• Heat oil in a wok, add jeera, daabeli masala and saute for 10 seconds
• Add mashed potatoes, salt and water and cook the mixture well to let the masala blend.
• Cook till water is absorbed completely and the masala becomes dry and thick
• Add pomegranate seeds, chopped coriander leaves, mix well and keep aside
• Take the pav, cut it in 'L' shape (i.e.) slit two sides keeping the other two intact.
• Apply tamarind chutney, garlic groundnut chutney, green chutney
• sprinkle some onion, stuff potato mixture
• heat a tawa, apply some butter, roast both sides of the pav till they become crisp
• sprinkle sev and chopped onions on the sides, yummy daabeli is ready to be relished!

If you don;t have time to make the chutneys separately, you can grind them together.  

1. Tamarind - lemon sized (soak till they become tender)
2. Dates - 8 nos (soak along with tamarind)
3. Jaggery - 3 tbsp
4. Green chillies - 5 nos
5. red chilli powder - 2 pinch
6. Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
7. Mint leaves - 1/4 cup
8. Salt to taste

Grind the above ingridients together and use for daabeli and other chat items too.

Pani Puri / Gol Gappa

'Chaat' is a snack item spread across north-east-west-south of India. A delicacy to be devoured with relish - as the name suggests. A very tempting item which is tangy, spicy, sweet & salty, sold in carts & stalls. The way the puris, the ingridients like the chopped coriander leaves, Onions, tomatoes, the packet of sev, papdis and puris are arranged and the aroma of the ragda that is  steaming  & variwill tempt one to walk towards the cart / shop to relish some.

There are variety of chaat items viz., Pani Puri, Bhel Puri, Sukha Bhel, Ragda Patis, Sev Puri etc. each one different in their own way with additions or deletion of few ingridients with variable presentations. The important thing to top all that is the chaat masala - a special combination of some special spices which adds the aroma & that extra taste which will linger in your mouth for long time and make you crave for more.

Pani puri - round puris are prepared, a whole made on the top inside which mashed potato or green gram or soaked bhoondhis is stuffed and this is immersed in two different pots containing Sweet & tangy potions and spicy salty potion according to one's preference  and served in a katori or cup. the whole puri with the contents is then put in the mouth and there starts your pleasant journey into the world of chaat......the different tastes of tanginess, sweet, salt and spicy........creates a pleasant experience in you.

Making of Puris

1. Maida - 1 cup
2. Rava / sooji - 1/2 cup
3. Salt to taste
4. water to knead
5. Oil for frying
6. round biscuit cutter / bottle cap

Procedure :- 

• Mix maida, sooji and salt into a bowl, mix well
• Adding water slowly, knead a soft dough

• set it aside for 1 hour by covering it with a moist cloth.
• Divide the dought into equal portions of small size, make ball out of it.
• dust the board, spread each ball using rolling pin like a chapathi
• using a round biscuit cutter or suitable bottle cap, cut round puris

• Deep fry them in oil in batches (when you put them into oil, press them with the laddle to make it puff)

• Place on an absorbant paper to remove excess oil and store it in an air-tight container
• you may get some flat puris in the process, preserve them for making a sev puri or for bhel puri :-) or you can crush them in a bowl, pour some sweet as well as spicy potions of pani puri and enjoy.

Making of Pani :-

Sweet Pani :

1. Tamarind - two lemon sized
2. Jaggery - 5 tbsp or more as per your taste
3. Dhania - 1tbsp
4. Dates - 10 nos.
5. Pani puri masala - 1 tsp
6. Mint - tbsp
7. Water
8. Salt to taste

• Boil water add tamarind & dhania boil till tamarind becomes tender.
• Using a chalni & a laddle crush the tamarind & dhania and collect the pulp into a vessel.
• Soak dates and grind to a nice paste along with mint leaves. Add it to the tamarind pulp.
• Add pani puri masala, Salt and required water

Spicy Mint Pani 

1. Mint leaves - 1/4 cup
2. Coriander leaves - 1 cup
3. Green chillies - 4 nos (or as required)
4. Salt to taste (use rock salt for best flavour)
5. Water
6. Pani Puri Masala - 1 tsp

• Grind mint leaves, coriander leaves, green chillies together.
• Mix this in a litre of water, add salt and pani puri masala
• Filter through a sieve and keep the pani.

For pani puri / Gol Gappa

You need :-

1. Puris
2. Sweet Pani
3. Mint spicy pani
4. Soaked bhoondi or boiled & mashed aloo or moong

• Take a puri, make a hole on the top.
• Place some bhoondi / aloo / moong inside
• Dip the puri in sweet pani 
• Dip it in mint pani
• Put it in your mouth, relish the toungue tickling pani puris / gol gappas
• You can adjust your taste by increasing or decreasing the ratio of sweet or mint panis (sweet or medium or spicy)
• During Summer, just add few ice cubes into the mint pani and enjoy it cool.

Momo / DIM SUM / Dumpling

Momo is a healthy snack and a distant relative of our traditional dumplings. Vegetables are packed inside a dough base and then steamed.  It is mostly commonly available in Nepal and in northeastern India. These dumplings are cooked in different methods viz., steamed, Deep fried and Pan fried.

They make a filling meal. They can be added in soups when it is boiling, as a separate dish along with a spicy garlic based red colored chutney as an accompaniment with it.  This red chutney makes it even more interesting and delicious.........


The place where we were living earlier in Navi Mumbai, we had couple of momo carts set up by people from northeastern India.  We enjoyed momos a lot and more specially during the rains and in winter. The fresh & hot hot momos taken out of the steamer are transferred to a paper plate with a dash of chutney on the side and is handedover to us... oh! this dish has become so dear to my heart that I even dreamt of it once .... :p I shared the same in a post and if you wish to read it, here it is!

Here are few photos of the steaming box i use inside my steamer ... it is made of bamboo and is very good.

 

 

I am giving you the vegetarian version of the momo. Generally finely shredded cabbage is used. You can use boiled potatoes / peas or even shredded panneer sauted with some spcies as stuffing.

Ingridients : (makes around 11 nos)

1. Maida - 1/2 tea cup
2. Salt to taste 
3. Water to knead the dough

For stuffing :-

1. Green chillies - 2 Nos. (optional)
2. Cabbage - 250g (finely shredded)
3. Carrot (grated) - 1 No.
4. Coriander leaves - finely chopped - 1 tbsp (optional)
5.  Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
6. Salt to taste

Procedure :-

• Knead maida by adding water, salt, into a stiff dough like you do for making puris. Knead it well so that it will become very soft. Leave the dough for 30 minutes to set.

• .For shredded the vegetables, you can use your food processor. I always prefer a knife. I forogot to take picture, which i will share with you when i make them next time. 

• In a mixing bowl add the finely shredded cabbage,grated carrot, green chillies, coriander and salt. Mix well.

•  Divide the dough into balls of equal sizes (like you do for poori)

• Dust the board and using rolling pin make a big thin chapathi (or make small balls and roll them individually) and using a round cutter (I use a small katori) cut rounds of equal size.

• Place the grated vegetable stuffing inside each rounds, gently bring the sides together in layers by pinching together.  Gather the ends together, press lightly and slightly twist them to get the spiral folds.

You may check this youtube video link which gives you various ways of shaping momos.  https://youtu.be/Zh5_DuuxHC0

• Steam them for 15 to 20 minutes.

• Hot hot momos are ready!

If you are making this in a large batch, you can store them in a microwave safe box and before microwaving, just sprinkle little water and then microwave high for 1.5 minute and serve hot with the chutney.

For the Red Dip :

The traditional chutney is make by soaking few dry red chillies (as per your preferred quantity) & few garlic pods in vinegar for a minimum of 4 hours.Then ground to a smooth paste adding water little by little checking the consistency. Add salt to taste.

I am sharing with you the chutney that I tasted as find it even more delicious!

1. Garlic pods - 2 nos
2. Schezwan sauce - 2 tbsp
3. Water
4. Cornflour - 1 tbsp
5. Cooking / Olive oil - 1 tsp
6. Spring onion greens (optional) - you get chienese seasoning in the market now-a-days. substitute that.

Finely chop garlic pods. Heat a tsp of oil & fry garlic till they turn golden in color. Then add the sauces, water and little cornflour dissolved in water to get the chutney consistency. Boil till it gets a gloss on the surface. Add spring onion green or the chinese seasoning. Yummy spicy chutney is ready!

Your healthy snack is ready to eat .

Momos tastes best when served piping hot ...

Healthy Chutney Sandwich (without butter)

I am giving you a low calorie version i.e. without butter healthy & delicious chutney sandwich.


Ingridients :-

1. Whole Wheat Bread
2. Boiled potato slices
3. Boiled beetroot slices
4. Onion roundels
5. capsicum slices

 for chutney :

1. Coriander leaves - 3 tbsp
2. Pudina leaves (optional) - 1 tsp
3. Garlic pods - 2 nos
4. Ginger - 1" piece
5. sugar - 1/4 tsp
6. lemon juice - 1/4 tsp
7. salt and green chilli to taste
8. Chutney (putana) dhal - 1 tbsp

• Grind putana dhal, green chilli, ginger and garlic pods. then add chopped coriander leaves. add lemon juice, salt, sugar and little water and grind to smooth paste. transfer it to a bowl.
• Toasting is optional. 
• In a pop-up toaster toast two slices of bread.
• Apply the chutney on one side of both the slices
• Arrange the potato, beetroot, onion and capsicum slices. cover with another bread slice
• Healthy, Aromatic, Delicious chutney sandwich is ready.

PS : You can store this chutney in freezer and take & use as and when required.

Variation :-

1. You can apply butter to the breads and then toast them in a griller or in a manual sandwich toaster.
2. Vary the ingridients with tomato, cucumber slices or par boiled spinach / carrot slices

Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji - a quintessential street food delicacy of the Mumbai City, was invented to feed the mill workers. The food that is custom made so that it is easy to prepare, affordable  & nutritious too as it has got all vegetables. An excellent dish to satisfy the hunger quickly.

Its raining here heavily as monsoon has started. Thought of having hot Bhaji and Pav. So made it for dinner of the day.

Recipe Video is in "Mira's Akshaya Patram"

For the Bombay Pav Bhaji, same method, except that finely chopped green capsicum is fried and added to the Bhaji.

(Serves 5 to 6 people)

Ingredients :

1. Pav bread - 10 to 12  pieces
2. Onion - 2 nos. (Big) (Finely chopped. Reserve some for garnishing )
3. Coriander Leaves - chopped 3 tbsp
4. Potato - 6 Nos. (medium)
5. Tomato - 1 No. (Big)
6. Carrot - 1 small (optional)
7. Green Peas - 1/4 cup (optional)
8. Beetroot - 1/4 (For natural color) - Optional
9. Ginger - 1" piece - Grated
10. Garlic - 3 cloves (Big). If small, take 6-8 cloves - Grated
11. Wedges of 1 Lemon
12. salt to taste
13. Pav baji masala - 1/4 tsp (or as required as per flavour preference)
14. Red Chilli Powder as per taste (use Deggi mirch / Tika lal  powder for rich color)
15. Oil - 1 tbsp
16. butter - 5 tbsp for the gravy and reserve some butter for roasting the pav bread.
17. Water as needed.

 Procedure :- 

• Boil, Peel & mash Potatoes.  If you are adding carrots and green peas, Beetroot, then boil them together.

• Grind the Beetroot in a mixer. Mash the potatoes, carrots and green peas. 

•  Chop onions finely. Keep some for garnishing (say 1/2 cup)

• Puree the Tomato or Grate it. This will make the tomato color flavour, color and taste get infused into the gravy.

•  Finely chop coriander leaves. Reserve some for garnishing.

•  Grate ginger and garlic (or you can even grind to paste) or crush nicely with a pestle (i do it sometimes).

•  Heat oil and butter in a pan (mixing oil with butter will prevent butter getting burnt smell). Keep the flame in Medium and add the chopped onions and saute till golden brown.

• Add the ginger garlic paste and stir fry till the raw smell goes or when it turns golden in color. 

• Add grated / pureed tomato and cook till oil separates. The tomato will get a nice light orange color. Add the Turmeric Powder, Pav Bhaji Masala, Red Chilli Powder and mix well.

• Add boiled & mashed veggies (Potato, carrot, green peas) and required water little by little, stirring in between to check the consistency. Bring it to boil. Since Potato has starch, you may have add some more water. so keep checking the consistency.

• Cook for 4 minutes in low flame or till the mixture becomes semi solid.  Bhaji is Ready!

Preparing the Pav :-

There are 2 different methods of pav making. One the ordinary method. The other, we will be adding little masala while roasting the pav. This I learnt from a street food vendor here. It taste different and good.

• First Method : Heat a tawa, apply some butter and place the pav bread on it. You can have soft as well as crispy pavs. For soft pavs, just place both sides on the greased tawa only for a minute. For crispy pavs, just reduce the flame and cook both sides for a little long time, till it turns kadak (crisp).
• Second Method :- Melt little butter, add chopped coriander leaves, a pinch of pav bhaji masala and a pinch of deggi mirch powder, mix well. Pour little of this mix on the hot tawa and place the pav buns. You can roast them on low flame to make them more crispy.

Serving Suggestion : 

Place the hot pavs on a plate. Pour the bhaji on the side. sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and finely chopped raw onions over it. Place a lemon wedge on the side which can be squeezed over the baji while eating as per the taste preference. 

Variation : Can add finely chopped, boiled and mashed Capsicum, Beet root.  If you add beetroot, it will get a rich pinkish red color as seen in the photo below

Enjoy!!!

Sukha Fruit Bhel

Sukha Fruit Bhel

Sukha fruit bhel

Ingridients

• Puffed Rice - 1 cup
• Oil              - 2tsp
• Red Chilli Powder as per taste
• Turmeric Powder - less than 1/4 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Fruits of your choice (e.g. apple, orange, banana, guava, etc.)
• Coriander leaves (chopped) - 1 tsp

Heat oil, add turmeric powder, redchilli powder and salt & fry for 30 seconds. put off the flame. mix in the puffed rice and cut fruits, coriander leaves and mix well. Transfer to a serving bowl.