Quick N Easy Bhel Puri

Aloo Tikki chaat, aloo papdi chaat, pani puri, bhel puri, and samosa chaat are popular Indian snacks. You can buy all of these cheap eats from the street vendors in all over India. One of my favorites is Bhel Puri. 

There are also many restaurants and cafes in the New Jersey/ New York City area where I can go to enjoy this snack, such as Hot Breads (Parsippany, NJ), Moghul Express (Edison, NJ), Sukhadia's (Edison, NJ), and most north Indian restaurants have it on the menu as well. 

However, I'm not in India right now and I don't feel like driving to go get this snack. What I can do?? No worries. 

Mom to the rescue! She always knows what to do when I'm craving snacks. 

She told me about Bombay Kitchen's Bhel mix. This mix is made up of puffed rice, sev, and spices. This mix is also gluten-free because sev is made from chickpea flour and puffed rice is made from, well, RICE. DUH!!

Making Bhel puri is quite easy once you have the two ingredients I mentioned above. The snack is typically made with puffed rice, sev, tomatoes, onions, fresh coriander, and sprinkled with tamarind sauce.

I was excited to see that my mom has multiple bags of this bhel mix. Now I can make and enjoy this snack to my heart's content.

Below are the ingredients I used:

 

- 1/3 cup of Bhel Mix by Bombay Kitchen (which is a mix of puffed rice, sev, and spices) 

- 1/2 to 1 ripe but firm plum tomato, finely chopped

- 1/4 cup of finely chopped red onion

- a few sprigs of fresh coriander, finely chopped (optional)

- 1 to 2 tsp of tamarind and date chutney

- 1 tsp Coriander Chutney (optional)

Mix together all of the above ingredients in a bowl and enjoy! That's it. That's the recipe. Now, go make it. It's nice and easy. You can adjust the ingredient amounts above as per your taste. 😀

Word of caution: do not wait too long after you mix all the wet and dry ingredients together because it will get soggy. That's no fun. 😥

I would definitely recommend all to buy this bhel mix. It tastes good on its own or you can use it to make your favorite snacks. It's great for parties. And it is reasonably priced. 

Bombay Kitchen Bhel Mix is available at most Indian grocery stores. It is also available for purchase online, at www.patelbrothersusa.com

A Plateful of Happiness!

Sometimes it's worth driving an hour or more for your favorite snack. This past weekend, we drove down to Moghul Express, and gave into our cravings of popular Indian street food. These are but not limited to pani puri, bhel puri, aloo papdi chaat, aloo tikki chaat, and samosa chaat. Our favorite is bhel puri and boy, was it satisfying. The portion size was good enough for two but one can eat it devour as well. I'm glad my mom ordered her own because I finished mine pretty quickly.

Bhel Puri, Yum!

How shall I describe this snack? There were crispy, sweet, sour, and spicy elements in it that meshed so well together. It wasn't deep fried and was made with healthy and fresh ingredients. After we got our fill, we took a drive through Edison for a bit of shopping. Holi just passed and Ugadi is just around the corner, so we wanted to load up on some savory and sweet treats to celebrate. We stopped at Sukhadia's and bought dry fruit kachoris, masala peas and rasgulla sandwiches. The sweet sandwiches never had a chance; finished them within days.
One thing is for sure, we can't keep driving down to Edison for all our cravings so it's a good idea to make them at home from time to time. So it's good that we know a couple to enjoy at home: aloo papdi chaat or aloo tikki chaat.

Visit WanderFood Wednesdays, for more food adventures and delights. 

A Hidden Jewel Amongst the Rocks

How many of you out there have tasted well prepared *Bhel Puri or **Papdi Chaat?

My family and I went out tonight to this Indian restaurant called Bombay Spice in Bridgewater, NJ. We usually go to places nearby but tonight it was my sister's treat so we let her pick the place. And she picked this place which was about 30-40 minutes away, but she said it received good reviews, and so we went for it.

At first, we were put off by the location and appearance of the place from our car as we made our way into the parking lot. It was hidden inside a strip mall which also had a cleaners, realty office, a bank and an ice cream shop. After making a round through the lot we saw the little restaurant in the corner and parked. We sat outside since it was nice and breezy. As we took our seats, the hostess brought out the menus, cutlery and these round steel plates which would be used to eat our appetizers. The feel of this place reminded me of our restaurant choices in Kerala, India. We ate at these small places where the decor was simple but the food was great. Everything was cleaned off the plates.

We ordered two appetizers which I haven't had in a long time: Papdi chaat and Bhel Puri. Now this restaurant claimed to have cuisine from East, West, North and South. The appetizers I just mentioned are from Northern India but most Indian restaurants offer them. The downside is that not all prepare them well. Usually, the puffed rice that is tossed with the potato pieces and tamrind sauce is soggy by the time the waiters bring it to the table and it's too sweet. I'm a harsh judge when it comes to my native food. If the appetizer is supposed to be served crispy, it should be like that when it reaches my table. Well, tonight I was so happy. Not only was the puffed rice still crispy but also tasty. The sauce wasn't too overpowering or sweet; it was tangy, just the way it should be.

The Papdi chaat was prepared really well and presented tastefully. It was brought out in this square plate that looked like antique silver with the edges slightly curved. The papdi was still crispy and as I was eating the chaat, it just made me feel like I was in Delhi and eating my favorites. I took a couple of spoonfuls before I realized I should keep some for my parents.

Also another notable entree is the Vegetable Kolhapuri. It is vegetables are cooked with roasted coconut and red chillies. We were told that the restaurant cooks in 4 spice modes: Mild, Medium, Spicy, and Indian spicy. We went for spicy just to be on the safe side. We ate this entree with rice pulao and naan. My parents are also pretty picky when it comes to Indian cuisine. A lot of restaurants in our area are North Indian and cater to Non-vegetarians. When they do have vegetarian options, it's usually worth it, so they don't dine out that much anymore. However, at this restaurant we ordered two entrees, the Kolhapuri I mentioned earlier and Saag Paneer. They were both really delicious and unique. My parents really liked them; now that's hard to come by. We found out at the end of our meal that the chefs do not use butter or cream to prepare the dishes like most other places do...so we know now that what we ate was all healthy and not too fatty. In conclusion, if you are in the central Jersey neighborhood and are in the mood for some good ol' vegetarian cuisine, try your luck at this place, Bombay Spice. The owner and staff were polite and helpful and the food was good. http://www.bombayspicenj.com/index.html <-- has coupons! I learned one more lesson tonight: Don't judge an Indian Restaurant by it's physical size and appearance. You might miss out on great cuisine.

*Bhel Puri is a puffed rice dish with potatoes and a tangy tamarind sauce.
**Papdi Chaat is made with papdi which are crispy fried dough wafers made from refined wheat flour and oil and they are are served with boiled potatoes, boiled chick peas, chilies, yogurt and tamarind sauce. Sometimes this is topped with chaat masala.