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a plate of kolhapuri misal pav served with chopped onions, farsan, tari and tea
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Spicy Kolhapuri Misal Recipe | Maharashtrian Misal Pav

recipe for misal pav - a popular maharashtrian breakfast dish, and much loved mumbai street food - with step by step photos
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4 people
Calories 517kcal

Ingredients

For Moong Prep:

  • 1/2 cup of moong beans or 2 cups of moong sprouts
  • 2 cup water
  • 1.5 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon haldi / turmeric powder

For Misal Main Roast:

  • ¼ cup oil
  • 4 garlic cloves rough chopped
  • 7 black peppercorn
  • 7 cloves
  • 1 inch cinnamon stick
  • 1 mace / javetri
  • 2 red chillies
  • 2 cup onions chopped
  • ¾ cup tomatoes chopped
  • ¼ cup dry coconut powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
  • 1 cup water for blending

For making the Misal curry:

  • 3 tablespoon oil
  • 1 tablespoon kashmiri chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
  • 2 cup water
  • ½ cup coriander leaves chopped

For making the Misal tari:

  • 2 tablespoon oil
  • 1 tablespoon kashmiri chilli powder

For serving along with Misal:

  • chopped onions
  • chopped coriander leaves
  • a few slices of lemon
  • any crunchy farsan you prefer

Instructions

For getting Moong beans to sprout:

  • Soak the moong beans in water for 12-18 hours. 
  • Then rinse them well, and strain the excess water using a colander. 
  • Cover the colander with a light breathable cloth, and let the moong beans sit in the colander for 12 - 18 hours. 
  • This should give you moong sprouts (see notes below on what to do if your moong beans have not sprouted by this method). 
  • If you already have moong sprouts, just follow the recipe from this point onwards.

For Moong prep:

  • Once the moong beans have sprouted, their outer covers will start to come off. Wash and rinse these moong sprouts well to get rid of as much of these outer covers as possible.  
  • Then in a pot, add moong sprouts with fresh water, salt, haldi / turmeric powder, and mix well.
  • Cook covered on medium heat for 15-20 minutes or till it starts boiling. Then turn off the heat, and set the boiled moong sprouts aside, retaining the water in which the moong sprouts were boiled.

For Misal main roast:

  • In a wide pan, heat up a little oil, and roast garlic cloves, black peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon stick, mace, and red chillies, till the garlic cloves change color, turning light red.
  • Then add in the chopped onions and salt, and saute on medium flame till the onions turn golden brown.
  • While you saute onions, in another pan - dry roast the dry coconut powder till it is well roasted to a reddish color.
  • Once the onions are done, add in the chopped tomatoes and red chilli powder, and saute for 2-3 minutes till everything is mixed well.
  • Then mix in the roasted coconut powder, turn off the heat, and set aside for 15-20 minutes, till the roasted items cool off a bit.
  • Finally, in a mixie - blend the roasted onion-tomato-spice mix with fresh water to form a smooth paste.

For making the Misal curry:

  • In a deep pot, heat up a little oil, add kashmiri chilli powder to it, and mix it in. Ensure the oil is warm but not burning hot when you add the chilli powder to it, else the chilli powder will burn.
  • Then add the onion-tomato-spice paste from the mixie, the sprouted moong (along with the retained water from boiling the moong), salt, chilli powder, more fresh water, and bring the curry to a proper boil.
  • Once the curry has come to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes, then turn off the heat. The misal curry is ready to serve.

Optional additions to Misal:

  • Chopped coriander leaves - Once the curry is done, you can choose to add the chopped coriander leaves to it or serve it on the side later.
  • Spicy tari - I highly recommend adding this to the misal at the end, especially if you like your curry spicy. And it will only take 2 minutes to make, as shared below.

How to make Misal tari:

  • In a small tempering pan – heat up 2 tablespoon oil and add in 1 tablespoon kashmiri chilli powder.
  • Mix it well, and after 30 seconds or so, turn off the heat and pour the tari in your kolhapuri misal.
  • Ensure to have the oil be warm, but not very hot, else it'll burn the chilli powder.

Notes

  1. Depending on the weather of the place you live in, the moong beans may not sprout with just one round of soaking and straining. In which case, repeat the process of soaking for 12 hours and rinsing and straining for 12 hours. Alternatively, you can wrap the moong beans in a muslin cloth, and let it rest in a warm place. 
  2. Do not rush or skip roasting the onions to a proper golden brown color, even though it’s time consuming, because it’s key to this recipe. But you can reduce the time taken by using a wider pan.
  3. Like the title suggests, this is a relatively spicy variation of the misal. If you want to tone down the spice level, just use kashmiri chilli wherever mentioned, but skip the red chilli powder. Don’t even substitute red chilli powder with kashmiri chilli powder, just skip it. If you want to cut down the spice further, skip the whole red chillies. And totally leave out the tari.

Please note: The nutrition values are best estimates provided as a courtesy. The exact values can vary depending on the exact ingredients or brands used. If you rely on them for your specific diet and/or health issues, please consult a registered dietician or nutritionist.

Nutrition

Calories: 517kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 41g | Saturated Fat: 23g | Sodium: 1876mg | Potassium: 594mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1850IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 3mg