Bhel puri and Bollywood are synonymous to Mumbai. Bhel puri, also spelled as bhel poori, is a delicious street food of the commercial capital of India. However, that does not mean you cannot enjoy it on the other side of the planet. In fact, the popularity of bhel puri has spread in different parts of India.
How to Make Bhel Puri?
If you are toying with the question that how to make bhel puri, it may surprise you that bhel puri comprises very down-to-earth ingredients like puffed rice, thinly sliced boiled potatoes and onions, roasted peanuts, papdis or puris, red and green chutneys, herbs and ground spices among others. Bhel puri is a proof that simple things in life can bring great joys and like life a dish of bhel puri brings in an amalgamation of tastes, flavors and textures- it is tangy, sweet, crispy, salty and crunchy at the same time. In bhel puri chaat does play a crucial role.
Now many of you must be thinking of laying hands on a winning bhel puri recipe that would replicate the taste and aroma from Mumbai’s streets and beaches into your kitchen. And keeping with the needs of our time and trends, it would be better if it is an easy bhel puri recipe and a healthy bhel puri recipe too; not involving much of your time and adding to your health quotient.
Here we are bringing a bhel puri recipe by a renowned Chef from India. Manoj Rai is the Corporate Director, Food & Beverages, Anardana Kitchen. Anardana Kitchen is a Delhi-based restaurant chain having three restaurants and three cloud kitchens within its ambit. Out of these three restaurants, two are in Delhi and one is there in Chandigarh.
Bhel Puri Recipe by Manoj Rai
| Ingredients | |
| For Cooking Potato | |
| Potato | 1 no. |
| Salt | 2gm |
| Water | As require-d |
| For Sweet Sour Chutney | |
| Jaggery | 45gm |
| Amchur powder (dry mango powder) | 45gm |
| Kashmiri red chili powder or sweet paprika | 2gm |
| Roasted cumin powder | 2gm |
| Dry ginger powder – optional | 1gm |
| Black salt or regular salt | 1gm |
| Water | 45ml |
| For Spicy Red Chutney | |
| Garlic cloves (medium to large-sized) | 16pcs |
| Kashmiri red chili powder | 30gm |
| Salt | 2gm |
| Water | 60ml or add as required for grinding |
| For Green Chutney | |
| Coriander leaves, mint leaves | 30gm |
| Ginger – roughly chopped | 2gm |
| Chopped green chillies | 1gm |
| Chaat masala | 1gm |
| Salt | To taste |
| Lemon juice | To taste |
| Water | 60ml |
| Other Ingredients | |
| Puffed rice – murmura | 200gm |
| Masala chana – optional | 15gm |
| Roasted peanuts – optional | 30gm |
| Boiled moong beans or boiled moong bean sprouts – optional | 5gm |
| Lemon juice | 1 teaspo-on or add as require-d |
| Sev(fried gram flour vermicelli) | 50gm |
| Chaat masala | 1 teaspo-on |
| Roasted cumin powder | 2gm |
| Papdi or puri broken in pieces | 6pcs |
| Black salt | As require-d |
| For Garnish | |
| Tablespoons of sev orfried gram flourvermicelli | 60gm |
| Tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves (or cilantro) | 15gm |
| Papdi or puri | 2pcs |
| Instructions | |
| Cooking Potatoes Rinse the potatoes very well in fresh water. Then boil 1 large potato or 2 medium sized potatoes in a 2 litre pressure cooker or in a pan with enough water. | |
| If using a pressure cooker, then pour water just about covering the potatoes. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon of salt and pressure cook for 4 to 5 whistles. Once the pressure settles down naturally in the cooker, then only open the lid. Drain the water and place the potatoes in a bowl. | |
| You can also cook the potatoes in the instant pot or in a pan, adding water as required. | |
| Let the potatoes cool or become hot to warm at room temperature. | |
| Making Green Chutney | |
| Rinse and roughly chop ½ cup fresh coriander leaves (or ¼ cup mint leaves + ¼ cup coriander leaves). | |
| Add the coriander leaves in a small grinder jar. Also add chopped ginger, green chillies, chaat masala, salt and lemon juice. | |
| Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water or as required and grind to a smooth chutney. Avoid making green chutney thin. Remove green chutney in a bowl and keep aside. | |
| Making Spicy Red Chutney | |
| Peel 16 to 18 medium to large sized garlic cloves. Rinse them and add in the same grinder jar. | |
| Also add Kashmiri red chili powder and salt. | |
| Add 2 to 3 tablespoons water or as required and grind or blend to a smooth consistency. Remove red chutney in a bowl and keep aside. | |
| Making Sweet-sour Chutney | |
| In a small pan take jaggery, amchur powder (dry mango powder), Kashmiri red chilli powder, roasted cumin powder, dry ginger powder (optional) and black salt or regular salt. | |
| Add 3 tablespoons of water. Mix very well. | |
| Keep this pan on the stove top and heat on a low flame. | |
| Let the mixture gently heat. When the mixture comes to a boil and thickens slightly, then switch off the heat. Keep aside. Check the taste and if required you can add some more jaggery or mango powder if required. | |
Prepping Veggies | |
| Peel and chop the potatoes. Finely chop 1 small to medium sized onion and 1 medium sized tomato. You can also chop 1 green chilli if you want. Chop some coriander leaves too. | |
Roasting Puffed Rice | |
| Take the puffed rice (known as murmura in Marathi) in a pan. On a low heat, stirring often, dry roast the puffed rice. If your puffed rice is already crispy and crunchy then you don’t need to roast them. | |
| Roast the puffed rice for 2 to 3 minutes till they become crisp. You don’t need to brown them. Let the puffed rice cool at room temperature. | |
| Making Bhel Puri | |
| Assemble everything before you begin. Keep the chutneys in a bowl. These chutneys stay well for about a week in the fridge. So you can easily keep the leftovers in the fridge. | |
| In a bowl now take the chopped boiled potatoes, onions and tomatoes. You can also include some boiled moong beans or steamed moong bean sprouts at this stage. | |
| Add sweet chutney, green chutney and red chutney. You can add the amount of chutneys as per the taste you want in your bhel puri. | |
| Sprinkle ½ to 1 teaspoon chaat masala and ½ teaspoon roasted cumin powder. Also add some black salt as per taste. If you do not have black salt, then use pink salt, rock salt or white salt. | |
| Drizzle ½ to 1 teaspoon lemon juice or according to taste. Mix very well. | |
| Now top with 1 tablespoon of masala chana (optional) and 2 tablespoons of roasted peanuts. At this stage you can also add some crushed puri or papdi. | |
| Add the puffed rice and sev (fried gram flour vermicelli). | |
| With a spoon, just swirl the whole bhel puri mixture together well and be quick. | |
| Serve bhel puri immediately in individual bowls or plates. Top up with some sev and more coriander leaves if you want. If you delay there is chance that the puffed rice will become soggy and you, your family and/or your guests won’t enjoy it. So be quick in serving. | |
Useful Tips | |
| Spicing: The salt, chutneys and spice powders in this bhel recipe can be adjusted as per your liking. You can use readymade chutneys too. | |
| No onions: No problem if you don’t have onions. You can make the bhel without onions too. | |
| Soggy bhel: Serve bhel puri as soon as you make it. Serving even after a couple of minutes tend to make it soggy and soft. | |
| Assembling: Keep all the ingredients ready before you start mixing everything. | |
| Roasting: The puffed rice should be crisp. If they are not crisp then roast them for some minutes in a pan on a low heat until they become crisp. | |
| Variations: You can even add grated vegetables like carrots and beetroot. When raw mangoes are in season, add them to your bhel puri for additional tanginess. |
So here is thebhel puri recipe by a culinary expert which you can use as it is or get inspired by. We hope this would answer your query of how to make bhel puri at home. However, before starting to prepare your homemade bhel puri for a lazy Sunday snack filled evening with family and friends, keep in mind that there is no instant bhel puri recipe. But you may easily come up with a simple bhelpuri recipe whose product is tasty, crunchy, flavoursome and appetizing.
FAQs
Nobhel purineeds quick consumption, within minutes of preparation. However, the chutneys used in this delectable street food from Mumbai can be stored in fridge for over a week.
It actually depends upon the preparation method of bhel puri, which may differ from one cook to another or one Chef to another. But we can get a good general idea of the calorie quotient of bhel puri from www.tarladalal.com. It states that a single serving of bhel puri generates 289 calories, out of which carbohydrates account for 157 calories, proteins comprise 31 calories and remaining 101 calories coming from fat. According to the website, one serving of bhel puri gives about 4 percent of the total daily calorie requirement of a standard adult diet, which is 2,000 calories.
Storing bhel puri will tend to make the puffed rice soggy. It is always better to serve the dish immediately after preparing it.
It can go very well with cups of warm aromatic tea and coffee.
