Misal pav

Misal pav ( a popular Maharashtrian street food):

Misal is one of the popular street food around various states of Maharashtra from which Kolhapur being the most fomous one. Its served as a breakfast or snack dish or sometime people have it as a one time meal. Its prepared in less spicy or very spicy nature. The main ingredient to prepare misal is mothbean usli ( matki usal). This usli is prepared in various ways along different states of Maharashtra. Then the moth bean usli is combined with farsan, raw chopped onion, coriander leaves and topped with the rassa of moth bean usli. Let me take you through the recipe.

Today I will share with you Kolhapuri misal recipe. Its very tasty and spicy.

Ingredients:
Mothbeans or matki-1 cup
Dry coconut pieces-1/2 bowl
Scraped wet coconut-1/2 bowl
Onions-2 big
Tomatoes-2 big
Coriander leaves- a fistful
Bay leaf-1
Haldi powder-1 tsp
Red chilli powder-2 tablespoons
Kashmiri red chilli powder-2 table spoons
Coriander powder-2 tablespoons
Ginger-1 inch
Garlic cloves-7-8
Tamarind-1 small ball
Salt as per taste
Sugar-just few grains to balance the taste.
Oil as required.
Hot water-3-4 cups

15 spices:
Coriander seeds-2 tsp
Peppercorns-1 tsp
Javitri-1 -2 pieces
Nutmeg-1 piece small
Cloves-2
Cinnamon-1
Star anise-1
Fenugreek seeds-1 tsp
Fennel (badishep)seeds-1 tsp
Jeera-1 tsp
Masala elaichi-1
Cardamom-1
Sesame seeds(til)-2 tsp
Khuskhus ( poppy seeds)-1 tsp
Red chillies- 5-6

For serving
Chopped onions-2 medium
Chopped coriander leaves-1 fistful

Misal farsan-1 bowl
Pav slices or ladi pav-2

Method:
Put matki or mothbeans in 2 cups of water and soak the for 5-6 hrs. Mostly from morning to evening. Then drain the water and tie them up in a muslin cloth and keep overnight. Next day you will find your matki sprouted.

Cook this spouted mothbeans in 1 cup of water in a pressure cooker for just 1 whistle.

Chop onions into long slits and tomatoes roughly into square pieces.

Roast all 15 spices together on a pan with 2-3 tablespoons of oil.

Keep aside. Roast coconut- dry and wet together in 2 tablespoons of oil till brown and keep aside.

Then roast long slitted onions, garlic till brown. Add roughly chopped tomatoes. Roast till everything is soft. Add haldi powder, ginger and tamarind ball.

Now grind everything into a paste adding required water.

In a deep bottom vessel add 4 tablespoons of oil, add bay leaf, then add grinded masala, saute very nicely for 5-7 mins till oil oozes out. Add red chilli powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder, coriander powder and saute nicely. Add salt, sugar. Once masala color changes to little dark add cooked matki from cooker and hot water and let everything cook well and boil. You will find oil with a reddish masala color floating on top. This is called as tarri or rassa in kolhapuri language.

Your misal is done.

Serve hot with ladi pav or slice bread in flowing way:
In a plate add thick misal, then farsan. Top up with chopped onions, coriander leaves. At last add the tarri/rassa water from topmost part of your misal vessel.

Its yum and spicy breakfast to be enjoyed with pav, or can be eaten as an evening snack with or without pav. I sometimes love it to eat without pav.

This is an kolhapuri version of misal. If you go to Mumbai, the misal preparation might slightly differ. In Mumbai they also serve with chopped lemon wedges. You can have here too if you prefer slightly sourish taste. In Nasik state of Maharashtra, misal is served with thick sev, whereas in Pune, they serve with chiwda. Some serve with some curd. So each state of Maharashtra serve it in different way and its your choice how to serve yourself, freely to taste the authenticity of misal of different states of Maharashtra.

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