Misal

Staple breakfast of Maharashtra especially in rural areas. My favorite roadtrip food. I love trying different misals especially in tiny roadside joints. One of my long time dreams is to do a roadtrip around maharashtra trying every misal joint that I come across – I have pretty much tried every misal in Pune and I have a favorite too – can you guess which one?!

Nothing tops the experience of eating a steaming hot spicy plate of misal and pav on a foggy morning on a farm – I want to be there RIGHT NOW :/

Over the years, I have simplified this recipe because I ahve realized that the beauty of rustic food is its simplicity. Try and choose fresh organic ingredients as much as possible and let nature do its magic.

You will need:

For the usal:

1 cup moth beans – soaked for at least 6 hours, then sprouted

Turmeric powder

Salt

Oil

1 big onion – sliced

1 tomato or 1 spoon tomato paste

1 green chilli – cut in pieces

2 dried red chillies

Kashmiri chilli powder – as per taste

Asafetida

Garam masala

Malvani masala/ kanda lasoon masala

6-8 cloves of garlic (use more is very small)

1 inch piece of ginger – chopped

1 tbsp sesame seeds

2 heaped tbsp shredded dried coconut

2 tsp dhaniya powder

½ tsp jeera powder

Handful of cilantro leaves – chopped

For the sides and toppings:

1 cup thick poha washed/ soaked and drained

Tadka/ simple tempering for the poha – oil+mustard seeds+turmeric and hing

Chopped tomato, onions and cilantro

Lime wedges

Farsan – salty and spicy trail mix

Serves 4-6 – freezes well for a couple of weeks

Procedure:

• Thoroughly wash a cup of moth beans 2-3 times and soak in warm (not hot) water for at least 5-6 hours or overnight.
• Drain on to a towel and wrap it up (in the damp towel) and keep in a warm humid enclosed space for another 5-6 hours to sprout. If soaked overnight, they will have enough time to sprout through the day and be ready to use for dinner time
• Cook the moth beans with some turmeric powder and salt and water – if you use a pressure cooker, be careful not to overcook. The beans need to be fully intact and should not get mushy. I cooked them in a regular pot with lid on for 10-15 minutes. Check by removing a bean and squeezing it with your fingers. It should get crushed, but not easily

• In a non-stick or cast iron pan, heat some oil and start roasting the sliced onion on high flame. Add in the ginger and garlic pieces.
• Next add the red and green chilli pieces
• Once the onion browns, add the tomatoes and saute until mixture is dry. If using tomato paste add it along with a little water to mix everything together and saute until dry-ish
•  Next add sesame seeds and dried coconut and keep stirring until all the ingredients get roasted evenly
• Finally add all the dry spices – turmeric, a pinch of garam masala, a good spoonful of kanda lasoon masala or malvani masala, dhana-jeera powder and red chilli powder

• Stop heating the mixture, but keep stirring until well combined
  Once the mixture cools down, add salt and cilantro leaves and grind to a smooth paste. Add water as needed little at a time

• In a large pot take about 3-4 tbsp of oil (or more – tastes better with more oil!) and heat it.
• To the hot oil add some asafetida, curry leaves and the ground masala paste, roast the mixture until all the oil is incorporated and continue sautéing until the oil starts leaving the sides again

• Add the moth beans along with the eater that they are cooked in into the masala and bring to a thorough boil.
• Adjust salt and chilli powder as per your taste
• Add additional water as needed. After the usal has boiled for a few minutes, the moth beans will settle to the bottom and all the water and oil will come to the top – this is the tarri – it is essential to add enough oil to get this stuff on the top if you want to make authentic missal 😊

• Remove the oily layer in a separate bowl – this is the tarri which is served as a topping for flavoring your missal
• Cook the soaked poha with a simple tadka of oil, mustard seeds, turmeric powder and asafetida – keep aside

Assembling/ serving the missal

• In a shallow bowl, add a layer of the poha and top it with generous amunts of the moth bean usal
• Next add chopped tomatoes onions and cilantro
• Add lots of farsan, and the tarri – the flavorful oily top layer finally top with some fresh lime juice
• Serve piping hot with some soft Indian-style pav. If you have not tried my pav recipe, please do, you’ll not regret it!

Notes:

• Misal can be made sweet and spicy too, if you prefer that taste profile more, add some jaggery
• You will have noticed that my recipe has all sorts of spice ingredients – green and red chilli, chilli powder, garam masala, kanda lasoon/ malvani masala, etc. They all also add different flavors in addition to heat. Feel free to use more/ less or omit 1-2 of these based on your preference and availability
• If you do not have kanda lasoon masala or malvani masala, add some pav bhaji masala, garlic powder and onion powder
• I like to serve misal with Poha as it forms a good neutral base. sometimes misal is served with nothing at all or a simple potato bhaji (made with chopped boiled potatoes and a simple tempering)

Hope you enjoy this dish as much I do!