Healthy,Spicy,Junky: Misal


My apologies to everyone who visited this space looking for updates and particularly to friends who got tired of my "khandvi pics staring back at them":) you know who you are, don't you...
It has been more than a month since I wrote last so have been deliberating a lot on what to post. At first I thought of celebrating with some nice, fried thinggies, but just wasn't able to get the kadhai up, but then plain healthy stuff was not particularly appealing in the cool, rainy Singapore right now, so here's my compromise: healthy-junk food, an oxymoron as someone rightly calls it, and a close second favourite breakfast, after poha for a lot of my marathi friends.
The recipe I used is one I noted down years ago from the magazine "Upper Crust", which ran an article on Phadtare misal centre in Kolhapur.
Now misal is a bit of an involved 'fast food', as in you can't just decide to make Misal on a whim..the moth beans need to be sprouted, or soaked overnight/few hours at the very least. With sprouts on hand, putting misal together is a breeze.On with the recipe now:
Ingredients
1 cup moth beans (matki), soaked and sprouted
1 onion, finely chopped
2 Tomatoes, chopped
1 boiled potato ( I usually skip it)
2 tsp garlic-ginger paste
1/2 tsp each : Mustard and Cumin seeds
1 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp goda or garam masala powder
White bread (I use the sasta, local type for authentic taste!)
Farsan/Namkeen of your choice
Oil , salt and chili powder to taste
Lemon, Cilantro and chopped onion for garnishing
Method
If you intend to sprout the beans, refer nupur or meera's excellent notes on the subject. If not then soak for a few hours and boil till slightly soft but not falling apart or mushy.
Usal
Fry one tsp ginger-garlic paste in oil until it turns reddish brown. Add onions and fry them , followed by tomato and fry till you get a nice paste which leaves a little oil on the side.Now add turmeric, salt, coriander powder and mix. (Optional:one some red chilli powder to the above)
Now add the sprouted moth/matki and the boiled potato if using . Pour some water ( say, 1 cup or so) and let it boil for 10 to 15 minutes on low flame till the liquid mostly dries up.
Katt:
Heat oil and fry the remaining ginger-garlic paste, add onions and cook till nicely fried. Now, add as much red chilli powder you'd care to eat. Add some coriander powder or dhana-jeera powder, turmeric powder, goda/garam masala powder and salt.Add tomatoes to this mixture and fry it until it forms a paste ( you can add tomato puree also.)
Add around 1.5 to 2 cups of water into the whole mixture and boil till it cooks through. The katt usually has a thin, soupy consistency.
Assembling:
Take the usal in a bowl. Add some farsan/namkeen to it. Put some kat on the top of that. Garnish with onion, cilantro, and some more farsaan, and sprinlkle little lemon juice if you like. Eat quickly before the farsaan gets too soggy with slices of plain, untoasted bread.

Also check out these authentic, traditional, misal posts, and variations

12 comments:

  1. Thank you,thank you,thank you! At last ... and back with one of my favs. :-)
    Am already drooling. :-)

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  2. I love that last picture. I hve never had this, it looks so super delicious.

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  3. Good to see you back DB and that is a perfect snack for the rainy weather. Am sure your family enjoyed it. Bookmarking this to try. can i use mung beans (sprouted) instead?

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  4. Ur food & the pics always makes me hungry:-)

    WB..

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  5. heyyy you're back!!!!

    With fabulous pictures...never tried this before, very interesting!

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  6. Welcome back Rashmi!
    I have also stared at that Dhokla picture a few times, yes. :-)
    Only eaten usal pav once, and failed to see why everyone was so excited about it. My taste buds have evolved since then and I'm sure I will love this stuff, esp. with the crunchy farsaan. Looks and sounds delicious.

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  7. Tagged ya! It's for a good cause so do check it out.

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  8. Welcome Back, and wht a comeback:-)
    I love making usal with sprouts,it gets so more nutritious....lovely clicks !

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  9. ooooh love love love misal. just finished lunch but wouldnt mind having a bowl of this!

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  10. Fiery Misal, Rashmi! Kahaan kho gaye the aap?

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  11. thanks for the warm welcome friends:)

    Laavanya,
    yes,moong sprouts work well too

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