Bhel puri is the perfect snack for when your tastebuds crave an explosion of textures and flavours. Made with puffed rice, vegetables, sev and chutneys, this 'gheeli' or wet bhel recipe is inspired by street food served at the Chowpati beach in Bombay. Take this recipe as mere guidance or inspiration on how you can make this snack at home. We've shown you how we like to make this snack with our favourite ingredients, but you can use the crunchy bits that you like and replace peanuts with roasted dal or sev with another namkeen or farsan of your choice such as chana chor garam or broken bits of puris. We've also shown you the vegetables we like to add but you can use whatever you like, some alternatives could be chopped bell pepper or moong dal sprouts.
We prefer a not so spicy version of this chaat but it's also common to add a spicy red chilli and garlic chutney in addition to the two chutneys we have used (you can try this with some sriracha if you're in the mood to experiment). The addition of chopped green chilli or kashmiri red chilli powder is also common. Other spices you could try adding would include roasted cumin powder.
When preparing bhel puri, it's important to have all your chutneys prepared and vegetables chopped up ready to go in advance. Then the bhel puri comes together fairly quickly and can be put together in minutes.
It's important to serve and enjoy bhel puri immediately after it's prepared so that the puffed rice is still crispy and you can enjoy all the different textures of this lip-smacking snack.
Enjoy!
- 3 cups puffed rice / moori / murmura
- 1/3 cup farsam or sev or namkeen
- 8 puris (optional)
- 1/4 cup roasted peanuts
- 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
- 1/4 cup finely diced cucumber
- 1/4 cup finely diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup diced boiled potato
- 1/4 cup chopped coriander
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp chaat masala
- 4-5 heaped tsp or to taste tamarind chutney*
- 3 heaped tsp or to taste green chutney**
- Roast the puffed rice in a thick bottom pan on medium heat for 2-3 minutes till crisp. Set aside to cool.
- Prepare the chopped vegetables.
- Toss the puffed rice together with the dry ingredients first - add the puffed rice to a large bowl and add the roasted peanuts and sev/farsan that you're using. Mix well.
- Next add all the vegetables followed by the salt, chaat masala and lime juice. Toss everything together to mix.
- Add the tamarind and green chutney to taste. Mix to incorporate, taste test. Add more chutneys or seasoning if needed.
- Garnish with some additional sev, chopped coriander and puris of course.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!