Puneri Misal

I have lived in Pune, Maharashtra for 8 years. I started my married life there. Pune is a beautiful cultural city and is considered as “Oxford of East” as it has several well known educational institutions. Besides, it also has many automobile industries and IT industries. It has the National Defence of Academy (NDA) quarters and therefore the majority of the population consists of Army, Students and IT professionals. There are many beautiful and scenic places to visit in and around Pune.

Being a cultural city, Pune has cultural food such as pithala bhakar, bharleli vangi, thecha, batata vada, kothimbirvadi, aamrakhand, kande pohe, sabudana khichdi, mastani, puneri misal.

When I first came to Pune in 2005, the city was not multicultural and the IT industries had just started. It had food joints serving these popular Maharashtrian dishes.

Puneri Misal is a popular street food of Pune. It is often eaten as breakfast or a mid-day snack. It is easy to make, economical and the sprout pulses used for making it makes it healthy and nutritional. It is spicy but not as hot and spicy as Kolhapuri Misal.

The basic ingredients of the Misal are Sprout usal, poha, boiled and diced potato, chopped onion, chopped coriander, farsan and tari/kat/rasa. The flavor and texture of the usal is enhanced with tari/rasa/kat. These all ingredients are assembled in layers and served hot with pav. Adding date and tamarind chutney is optional. I have used the date and tamarind chutney as I like to balance my misal with the sweet and sour taste. If you want to make Dahi Misal, just add curd to the misal while serving.

We, at our home, usually make this misal during winters. The hot and spicy misal is the best meal to have in the cold winter.

You can avoid pav and can just have it plain.

Every time I make misal, the memories of Pune are revived.

This dish is dedicated to the lovely time spent in Pune.

Puneri Misal
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Puneri Misal

Puneri Misal is a popular street food from Pune, Maharashtra. The ingredients of the misal include - usal, poha, diced potato, chopped onions, chopped coriander, farsan and spicy tari/kat/rasa. The ingredients are assembled in multiple layers in the bowl and served with bun or pav.
Course Breakfast, Snack
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 4 people
Calories 844kcal

Ingredients

Usal

dry masala for rasa/tari/kat/gravy

wet masala for rasa/tari/kat/gravy

poha

Assembling misal

Instructions

Usal

  • Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add curry leaves.
    Puneri Misal
  • Add chopped onion and saute till translucent.
    Puneri Misal
  • Add ginger garlic paste to it. and saute more.
    Puneri Misal
  • Add chopped tomatoes and salt and cook till they are soft. Then add turmeric powder, red chili powder and garam masala to it and saute for two minutes.
    Puneri Misal
  • Add the mixed sprouts and add water to it. Add the rest of salt and pressure cook for 2-3 whistles.
    Puneri Misal
  • The usal is ready.
    Puneri Misal

Dry masala for rasa/tari/kat/gravy

  • Dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, cloves, cinnamon sticks on low heat.
    Puneri Misal
  • After the spices start releasing aroma and get little brown add the desiccated coconut.
    Puneri Misal
  • Mix well and roast for 2 more minutes. Keep it aside and let it cool.
    Puneri Misal
  • Grind the masala to fine powder. This masala can be used for making brinjal rice, stuffed brinjal curry, masale bhat.
    Puneri Misal

wet masala for rasa/tari/kat/gravy

  • Heat oil in a pan. Add onion and fry till translucent.
    Puneri Misal
  • Now add the dry ground masala and roast for 4-5 minutes.
    Puneri Misal
  • Add the wet paste (grind together onion, ginger garlic, green chili, coriander to a fine paste). Mix well and saute for 2-3 minutes.
    Puneri Misal
  • Add red chili powder, salt and sugar. Mix well.
    Puneri Misal
  • Add water and let it boil and cook for 12-15 minutes.
    Puneri Misal
  • Add lemon to it after the water starts boiling.
    Puneri Misal
  • The oil layer will be seen floating on top. Our kat/tari/rasa is ready.
    Puneri Misal

Poha

  • Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves and turmeric powder.
    Puneri Misal
  • Add the washed and soaked poha. Add salt and mix well . Cover and cook for few minutes. Poha are ready.
    Puneri Misal

Assembling Misal

  • Arrange all the prepared ingredients for assembling the usal - prepared usal, poha, boiled and diced potato, chopped onions, chopped corainder, sweet date and tamarind chutney , farsan and tari/kat/rasa (shown in next pic). The kat/tari/rasa should be hot.
    Puneri Misal
  • Tari/kat/rasa.
    Puneri Misal
  • Assembling the usal - in a deep bowl add two tablespoon of prepared usal.
    Puneri Misal
  • Add two tablespoon of poha and some diced potatoes.
    Puneri Misal
  • Pour 4-5 laddle full of tari/rasa/kat. Add 2 tbsp of sweet date and tamarind chutney
    Puneri Misal
  • Garnish with chopped onions, corainder and farsan. Puneri Misal is ready to serve. Similarly prepare the remaining usal bowl.
    Puneri Misal
  • Serve hot with pav.
    Puneri Misal

Nutrition

Calories: 844kcal | Carbohydrates: 135g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Sodium: 567mg | Potassium: 1175mg | Fiber: 27g | Sugar: 54g | Vitamin A: 1650IU | Vitamin C: 74.3mg | Calcium: 340mg | Iron: 32.6mg

6 thoughts on “Puneri Misal”

    • Hi Palakh
      Thank you so much for trying out the recipe and I am glad that you liked it. To make tari we use a good amount of coriander and green chili and red chili powder. If the red chili powder is not strong in colour then the colour of the tari will remain green. I have used kashmiri red chili powder. Kashmiri red chili powder gives nice red colour to the dish and is not spicy. Do try next time with kashmiri red chili powder. Happy cooking !!

      Reply
  1. I heard the speciality of Puneri Misal from other parts of Maharashtra here Usal is steamed before being cooked with spices but there is no mention of steaming here?

    Reply
    • Hi
      Thank you for going through the recipe. Yes you can steam the sprouts that are used to make the misal. I have pressure cooked the sprouts with spices instead of steaming. The cooked usal or sprouts is assembled with boiled potato, poha, kat or rasa, farsan and chopped onions and tomatoes and served with pav.

      Reply

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