Misal Pav Recipe : How to Make Maharashtrian Style Misal Pav at Home

If you love various Maharashtrian snacks, then you might want to know how to make Maharashtrian style Misal Pav at home. This is the traditional Misal Pav Recipe with the addition of Goda Masala Powder. It has the authentic taste as well the touch restaurant style flavours. The yummy and tasty Misal Pav is easy to make. It is very simple and requires only few handful of ingredients.(Take me directly to the Recipe)

The main ingredient is the moth bean, also called as Matki which is used for making Misal. If you like all types of sprouts, then you can even add mixed sprouts. There are various people who prefer to eat the Misal Pav in the main meal. As sprouts are very healthy, it is considered to be hearty along with tasty. It is highly tummy filling. Generally Misal is of medium consistency so make accordingly.

This dish can be made very spicy or mildly spicy. You can always alter the taste of the Misal Pav. If you do not like spicy or do not want to eat spicy, then you can change the taste of the Misal Pave recipe as suitable to your taste buds. The taste of this popular traditional Maharashtrian dish must not change. You can add whole spices and spice powders in the balanced proportion.

The spicy base curry of this famous Mumbai Street Food is made from mixed sprouts along with the spice tempering. It is eaten in pair with the Ladi Pav or the soft buns. There are various manners to make Misal at home. The preparation of Misal Pav Recipe differs from place to place. You can adjust the spiciness as well the consistency of Misal as per your taste preference and choice.

Let’s Learn to Make Misal Pav at home step by step.

Ingredients for Misal Pav Recipe:

To prepare the Misal Pav at home, you will need various veggies, sprouts, spice powder along with other condiments.

For Misal Pav:

• Pav (Bread Rolls) – 10 units.
• Onions (finely chopped) – ½ cup
• Tomatoes (finely chopped) – ½ cup
• Snack Mixture (Farsan/Chewda) – 1 cup
• Lemon – 1 unit.
• Coriander Leaves (Dhania Patta) – ½ cup.
• Curd (Dahi) – ½ cup.

Note: You can easily prepare the Pav at home.

For Usal:

• Moth Bean Sprouts (Matki Sprouts) – 2 cups
• Potatoes (cube chopped) – 2 medium units.
• Onion (finely chopped) – 1 medium unit.
• Green Chillies (chopped) – 2 units.
• Ginger Garlic Paste – 2 tsp.
• Mustard Seeds (Rai) – 1 tsp.
• Cumin Seeds (Jeera) – 1 tsp.
• Curry Leaves (Kadi Patta) – 10 leaves
• Goda Masala Powder – 1 ½ tbsp.
• Turmeric Powder (Haldi) – ½ tsp.
• Red Chilli Powder – ½ tsp.
• Coriander Powder (Dhania Powder) – 1 tsp.
• Cumin Powder (Jeera Powder) – 1 tsp.
• Tamarind – 1 ½ tsp.
• Oil – 3 tbsp.
• Salt – as required

Note: You can also use 3 to 4 garlic cloves and ½ inch ginger. It is always better to use the homemade Goda masala powder.

Steps for Misal Pav Recipe:

It is very easy to prepare the Misal Pav, first you need to make the usal and then assemble the Misal Pav.

Pre-Preparation:

Pressure cook Sprouts and Potatoes:

• Take 2 cups of moth bean sprouts in bowl.
• Rinse the sprouts under the running water.
• Take a pressure cooker and place it on the stove.
• Drain the sprouts and add them into the cooker.
• Take 2 medium sized chopped potatoes and add them.
• Also, add ¼ tsp. turmeric powder in the pressure cooker.
• Now, add salt and water in the pressure cooker.
• Water should be enough to cover all the ingredients.
• Now, close the lid and pressure cook the ingredients.
• Cook them until you hear around 3 to 4 whistles.
• After 4 whistles, turn off the flame and wait for a while.
• Keep the cooker on the wire rack and let the pressure release from it.
• Keep the pressure cooked potatoes and moth bean sprouts aside.

Note: The proportion of water in the pressure cooker must be enough to soak sprouts.

Make Tamarind Pulp:

• Now, take a bowl and add ½ cup warm water in the bowl.
• Add the 1 ½ tsp. of tamarind (Imli) in the warm water.
• Soak the tamarind in the warm water for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, squeeze the soaked tamarinds.
• Then slowly extract the pulp from the tamarind.
• Keep the tamarind pulp aside and proceed further.

Note: If you already have the tamarind pulp, then do not make it once again. You can use it.

Instructions for Making Usal:

• Take a frying pan and place it on the stove.
• Add 3 tbsp. oil and turn on the flame.
• Heat the oil until it gets hot.
• Now, add 1 tsp. mustard seeds (Rai) in the oil.
• Let the mustard seeds crackle for a while.
• Now, add 1 tsp. cumin seeds (Jeera) in the oil.
• Let the cumin seeds crackle for a while.
• Now, add chopped onions and sauté for a while.
• Sauté until the onions turn translucent.
• Now, add the fresh curry leaves and sauté.
• Along with curry leaves, add the ginger-garlic paste.
• Sauté nicely until the raw aroma goes away.
• Now, add chopped green chillies and sauté.
• After around 15 seconds, add turmeric powder.
• Add 1 tsp. coriander powder (Dhania powder).
• Add 1 tsp. cumin powder (Jeera powder).
• Add 1.5 tbsp. homemade goda masala powder.
• Mix all these powder nicely.
• Now, add ½ tsp. red chilli powder and stir nicely.
• After around 15 seconds, add tamarind pulp.
• Stir and mix it properly with all the spices.
• Simmer everything in the pan for a while.
• Now, add the pressure cooked potatoes.
• Cook for a while and add boiled sprouts in the pan.
• Stir and mix these ingredients properly in the pan.
• Then add more water in it if you feel the need. (I added more than ½ cup of water.)
• Stir everything once again and mix it nicely.
• Now, add 1 tsp. sugar and salt in the pan and mix again.
• Stir and mix the sugar and salt nicely in the usal.
• Simmer the spicy usal for around 10 minutes.
• Stir the cooked Usal at regular intervals on low flame.
• Now, add chopped coriander leaves and mix it.
• Now, taste the usal and adjust salt and other spices in the usal.
• Mix nicely after adjusting and simmer for more few minutes.
• Once cooked, turn off the flame and transfer the usal into a bowl.

And your Usal is ready!

Note: Add the spices as per your taste.

Plating Misal Pav:

• Take a plate and keep 2 Pav in the plate.
• Take a small bowl and pour some usal in the bowl.
• Garnish it with chopped onions and tomatoes.
• Add some chewda or farsan over the simmered Usal.
• Then squeeze some lemon juice over it and mix.
• Lastly, sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves.
• And your Misal Pav is ready to serve.
• Enjoy delicious and spicy Misal Pav.

Note: You can top the Misal with any of your favourite savoury garnishes.

Remarks:

• For the best taste, always use the homemade Curd.
• Add more water in the cooker for the mixed sprouts.
• You can skip tamarind pulp and add more lemon.
• You can use sprouted Moong Dal as well in the Misal Pav.
• You can also make coriander powder at home.
• If you want, you can skip adding Kokum as well.
• To make tarry, add more water and spice powders.
• White peas and Curd can also be used to make Misal.
• You may add Garam masala powder instead of Goda masala.
• Misal can be prepared in more than one way at home.

Garnishing Ideas:

You can garnish the Misal with mix farsan (mix chewda) on the top. You can also add some chopped coriander leaves on the top of the simmered Misal. You can also top it with crunchy onions and tomatoes.

Serving Suggestions:

• Serve the Misal in a bowl or plate with the buns.
• Some serve the Misal with butter milk or yogurt.

Quick Tip:

• If you are in hurry, you can buy the Pav from the store.
• If you are tomato puree, then you can use instead of Imli.
• Even the spice powder like turmeric powder can be at home.
• Instead of Farsan, you can use regular thick Sev or Bhujiya.
• You can also use tamarind or tomato instead of Kokum.
• Without goda masala, both taste and flavour will change.
• You may use grated or desiccated coconut in the curry.
• Add more oil and cook till oil floats on top for the authentic taste.
• Add farsan in the last before serving, else it will become soggy.
• It is advisable to use the homemade Matki Sprouts.

This is a much-loved and appreciated Maharashtrian curry. It is spicy and a bit tangy with little tartness. It has a perfect blend of boiled potatoes, fresh sprouts, and the spice mix paste. It is goes best with the Pav or the bread. You can have it for the breakfast, brunch, snack or even dinner. It is also suitable for the days when you are willing to have the light meal. This delicious dish is very wholesome and nutritious. To make it healthier, you can use bun prepared from wheat flour.

This popular Maharashtrian breakfast recipe is very quick to make. ‘Misal Pav’ is a favourite food item of many people around the nation. Even if you are tasting it for the first time, you would love it.  You can eat the scrumptious ‘Misal Pav’ in breakfast or for the evening snack. The fresh and sizzling taste of sprouts curry will tantalize your taste buds.  Of the various variations, the Kolhapur Misal is the spiciest. Apart it also there are many different ways of making ‘Misal Pav’ in Maharashtra.

Misal is suited to have at any time of the day. It is similar to the cocktail dish prepared with the various savoury spices, veggies and sprouts. The protein packed, wholesome, nutritious and tasty sprouts are cooked and added in the tangy tomato-onion base curry. The tagines of tomatoes combines with the pungent onions. You can use the variety of other beans and sprouts as well. The sprinkle of the spice powders along with the desiccated coconut makes the special Misal masala.

The taste of Misal is further enhanced with the garnishing ingredients and Pav as accompaniment. The Chivda gives the crunchy texture whereas lemon adds bit of tangy zest. The few other popular variations of ‘Usal’ are ‘Chawli Usal’, ‘Kala Chana Usal’, or Green Peas Usal.  You can make all of these varieties at home with ease. Usually, the Misal available at the food shops is spicier, but you can make the ‘Misal’ less spicy. The taste, texture and flavours of the Misal are dependent on you.

This Misal Pav Recipe is among the most popular traditional Maharashtrian dish. It is nothing but a spicy curry based dish mad of mixed lentils. It then topped with ingredients of famous Bombay bhel. You can use different ingredients in the farsan mixture as well along with onions, tomatoes and chopped coriander. This dish can be enjoyed during breakfast, mid-day meal, and dinner or at any time you wish to have it. The healthy sprouts are cooked in spicy gravy topped with crunchy mixture.

The usual Misal Pav is spicy but not very spicy. Whereas, the actual and authentic flavoured Kolhapuri missal Pav is extremely spicy and has too much of heat. This quick to go on food is not for the people who cannot eat spicy. Even though you can change the taste and make it less spicy, but the real fun lies in eating spicy Misal Pav. The addition of the tamarind pulp or paste balances the flavours. You can also add Kokum for the little flavours. People also use yogurt to make Misal.

Traditionally the Misal should be cooked at home with ‘goda masala’ only. But you can alter the taste and cook with the Garam masala powder. The Garam masala powder is added to enhance the taste of the Punjabi gravy dishes or north Indian or Bengali food. Whereas the sweet smelling ‘goda masala’ is added to all kind of Maharashtrian recipes. Though, the Garam masala can be substituted instead of ‘goda masala’ but you must avoid unless you are left with no choice.

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