Misal Pav - A delightful Maharashtrian Spiced Curry With Bread

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Misal pav is a popular dish from Maharashtra. It contains misal and pav. The final dish is topped with farsan or sev, onions, lemon, and coriander. It is usually served with bread. 

Misal pav is a very famous street food in Maharashtra. I have never tasted this before I made this today for the South-North Challenge. This is my second month of participating in the challenge.

Misal Pav served with juice.

Our friend and fellow blogger Divya Pramil from you too can cook Indian food started this amazing challenge where she divided the whole of India into North and South.

Based on our culinary expertise, we are either in the North team or in the South team. I belong to the South team and that means that I have to make the dish that the North team challenges us to make and it works vice versa for the other team.

What is Misal Pav 

So, a little description of the dish that I made today. Misal is a spicy curry made of sprouts or peas and chili gravy. Traditionally the Misal has two components to it, one is the thicker part 'matki' has cooked peas or sprouts in it and the other one is called the 'kut' which is the spicy, watery gravy.

Today though Meena aunty taught us an easier version that has both the matki and the kut together as gravy that is topped with crunchy farsan or hot mix. This dish is served with pav (Indian bread).

Since it is quite a spicy dish, I also served this with Lassi (sweetened buttermilk) to cool down the palate. Hope all of you enjoy this dish as much as I did.

How to make Misal Pav.

Preparation time - 15 mins plus overnight to soak the peas
Cooking time - 1 hr plus time to cook the peas
Difficulty level - medium

Ingredients to make Misal Pav -

To grind together (base masala)

  • Onions - 3 (sliced)
  • Tomatoes - 2 (chopped)
  • Green chilies - 2
  • Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
  • Coconut (grated or desiccated) - ¼th cup
  • Oil - 1 tsp

For the Misal Masala

  • Ground paste from above
  • Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
  • Red chili powder - 1 teaspoon (adjust based on spiciness level)
  • Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
  • Garam masala - 1 tsp
  • Dhania/coriander powder - ½ tsp
  • Dry mango powder/amchur powder - 1 tsp
  • Oil - 3 tablespoon (got to be liberal for the taste)
  • Salt - to taste

For the assembly/Misal pav -

  • White peas/Vatana (white) - 1 ½ cups (soaked overnight)
  • Pav Buns - as needed
  • Butter /olive oil - to toast the buns
  • Farsan - as needed
  • Onion (for garnish) - 1 (chopped finely)
  • Cilantro/coriander leaves - for garnish
  • Lime wedges - a few (for garnish)

Procedure -

  • Wash and soak the peas overnight in water. Next day, drain the peas, add fresh water, and cook in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles. The peas should be cooked soft, but they should not be mushy. Keep aside.
Soacking white peas in water.
Soaked peas ready to cook.

To make the ground masala -

  • Sauté the onions until brown and translucent. Now add the green chilies and Ginger garlic paste and sauté for 2 more mins.
Fryinf onion in a pan.
  • Now add the tomatoes and cook until it softens.
Cooking onion and tomato.
  • At the end add the coconut and fry for a couple of more minutes and take it off the flame. Cool down a bit and grind it into a smooth paste adding little water if needed.
Adding coconut to masala.
ground masala.

To make the gravy -

  • Heat the oil in the same pan and add all the dry masala powders with the cumin seeds and sauté for about a minute on low heat. Take care not to burn the masala.
Heating oil.
  • Now add the ground masala paste and sauté it well. Cook for a few minutes (for about 8- 10 mins) covered, until the oil starts to leave the side of the pan. It is important to fry the masala well to ensure the maximum flavor in the recipe. Do not add salt now because then it will splatter all over the place.
Adding ground masala paste and cooking.
Cooking more masala paste.
  • Add the salt and the cooked peas and mix well. Add water to make it into gravy-like consistency. Let it boil for a few minutes (about 5-8 mins). Now the gravy is ready for assembly.
Boiling cooked peas.

Assembly - Make it just before you are ready to eat

  • Toast the pav buns either in butter or olive oil.
  • In a bowl add the gravy and top it with about ¼ cup of farsan. Now add a little more gravy on top. Garnish with chopped onions and cilantro and serve with the toasted buns.
  • I also served it with sweet lassi to cool down the palate from all that heat.
Assembly the curry with onions and farsan.
Serve it with pav.

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Recipe

Misal Pav and Spiced Curry With Bread served in a dish

Misal Pav - A Delightful Maharashtrian Spiced Curry With Bread

Misal pav is a popular dish from Maharashtra. It contains misal and pav. The final dish is topped with farsan or sev, onions, lemon and coriander. It is usually served with bread. 
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Course: Appetizer, Breakfast, Curry, Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian, Maharashtrian
Diet: Vegetarian
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 196kcal
Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Equipment

  • Pressure Cooker
  • pan
  • spatula
  • bowl

Ingredients

To grind together -

  • 3 Onions sliced
  • 2 Tomatoe chopped
  • 2 Green chilies
  • 2 teaspoon Ginger garlic paste
  • ¼th cup Coconut grated or desiccated
  • 1 teaspoon Oil

For the Misal Masala -

  • Ground paste from above
  • 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
  • 1 teaspoon Red chili powder adjust based on spiciness level
  • ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon Garam masala
  • ½ teaspoon Dhania/coriander powder
  • 1 teaspoon Dry mango powder/amchur powder
  • 3 tablespoon Oil got to be liberal for the taste
  • to taste Salt

For the assembly/Misal pav -

  • 1 ½ cups White peas/Vatana white - (soaked overnight)
  • Pav Bun as needed
  • Butter /olive oil to toast the buns
  • Farsan as needed
  • 1 Onion for garnish (chopped finely)
  • Cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish
  • Few Lime wedges for garnish

Instructions

  • Wash and soak the peas overnight in water. Next day, drain the peas, add fresh water and cook in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles. The peas should be cooked soft, but it should not be mushy. Keep aside.

To make the ground masala -

  • Sauté the onions until brown and translucent. Now add the green chilies and Ginger garlic paste and sauté for 2 more mins.
  • Now add the tomatoes and cook until it softens.
  • At the end add the coconut and fry for couple of more minutes and take it off the flame. Cool down a bit and grind it into a smooth paste adding little water if needed.

To make the gravy -

  • Heat the oil in the same pan and add all the dry masala powders with the cumin seeds and sauté for about a minute in low heat. Take care not to burn the masala.
  • Now add the ground masala paste and sauté it well. Cook for few minutes (for about 8- 10 mins) covered, until the oil starts to leave the side of the pan. It is important to fry the masala well to ensure the maximum flavor in the recipe. Do not add salt now because then it will splatter all over the place.
  • Add the salt and the cooked peas and mix well. Add water to make it into gravy like consistency. Let it boil for few minutes (about 5-8 mins). Now the gravy is ready for assembly.

Assembly - Make it just before you are ready to eat

  • Toast the pav buns either in butter or olive oil.
  • In a bowl add the gravy and top it with about ¼ cup of farsan. Now add a little more gravy on top. Garnish with chopped onions and cilantro and serve with the toasted buns.
  • I also served it with sweet lassi to cool down the palate from all that heat.
  • Enjoy!!!

Nutrition

Calories: 196kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 65mg | Potassium: 354mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 457IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @Sandhya.Ramakrishnan or tag #MyCookingJourney!

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65 Comments

  8. wow!!mouthwatering!!
    Very interesting recipe with nice clicks...
    Thanks for sharing with event :Cook like a Celebrity Chef

    Reply

  12. Hello, we found your blog on Foodie Blogroll and wanted to say 'hi'. You have an amazing site, especially love the step by step pictures. We would like to invite you to share your posts at Food Frenzy for additional exposure.

    If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.

    Reply

  16. This looks delicious! I can imagine how fragrant and tasty this is! Pinned to try 🙂 I found you via the RecipesUS Food Community Page on Facebook. I'm following you through GFC and FB .... Feel free to come check out my blog if you'd like - https://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/

    Reply

    1. Hi Jamie, Lovely blog and glad to be following you through GFC. Good to know you and thanks for visiting 🙂

      Reply

  19. Nicely done!!! I am still on the planning phase of doing it!!! Yours is looking so tempting and delicious!!!
    Sowmya
    Ongoing Event - CWF - Whole Wheat Flour
    Ongoing Event - Eggless Bakes and Treats

    Reply

  20. Yum looks so good dear 🙂 perfectly made!! Loved the presentation too 🙂 Wonderful work am so glad to see that you people are rocking 🙂 And serving lassi is really a good idea...Super tempting platter...

    Manga Meen Kulambu / Raw Mango Fish Curry

    Reply

    1. Thanks Divya ! In fact we are very appreciative of your idea for starting this challenge. It definitely opens up a lot of possibility to learn new cuisines and dishes that we have never made or tasted before.

      Reply

  21. wow... looks yummy yummy..!! thanks for step by step recipe.. u ll definetely deserve well explained award.. 🙂

    Reply

  23. Wow!!! looks so delicious and yummy. Step by step pics are awesome.Commendable efforts and loved your idea of serving with buttermilk.

    Reply

  26. oi meena aunty is seeing now
    and wow u made it even better than me
    and lassi wud certainly cool down the sensitive tummy. the dish is supposed to be spicy. i kept it mild for us but in interiors its very spicy. i had it once somewhere i cudnt eat at all. but wow u made it very good
    see this month challenge is so easy all r doing fast fast

    good na
    and hope u loved it

    great job

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much Aunty for a wonderful new recipe. Everyone in my house enjoyes it including my 7yr and 2yr old. We had this with parathas for dinner tonight. Did you read what Sowmya said in previous comment? Hint hint aunty 🙂 once again thanks for a great recipe. It is a sure keeper in my house 🙂

      Reply

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