Sukha Bhel is a popular Mumbai street-style snack made with puffed rice, sev, veggies, papdi puri, and dry bhel chutney. It makes perfect tea-time snacks.
This street-style Bombay Bhel is an easy and quick recipe to make at home. It’s the perfect combination of flavors and textures.
It’s a low-fat, nutritious, and delicious Indian chaat recipe that is addictive. If you love street food like me, you will love this recipe!
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About Bhel
An irresistible street-side snack, sold from carts by vendors, bhel is a classic Indian street-style chaat made with Indian puffed rice, boiled potatoes, onions, tomatoes, crushed-up papdi, and sev and tossed with three chaat chutneys.
There’s an explosion of flavor from the combination of different chutneys, and there is so much texture from the puffed rice, vegetables, crispy papdi, and sev that’s sprinkled on top.
There are different versions of Bhel in India.
In Bombay, it is called Bhel; in Karnataka, they call it Churumuri; in West Bengal, they call it Jhal Moori or Muri.
Each version is slightly different from the others but delicious in its way.
There are two types of bhel sold in Mumbai.
- Geeli bhel: Geeli means wet. This is the most popular one of the two. In this version, three chutneys are used.
- Sukha Bhel: Sukha means dry. A dry green chutney is used here.
The street-side chaat vendors serve bhel in paper cones and a couple of papdis, which act as a spoon to eat this delicious bhel puri chaat.
So today, in this post, I am sharing the Mumbai street-style dry Bhel Puri recipe with dry green chutney that you can easily make at home from scratch.
This sukha Bhel is a perfect snack when you want something light and, at the same time, satiate your taste buds. It’s spicy, tangy, and so irresistible.
The hero of this recipe is Sukha Bhel Chutney (Dry bhel powder).
This spicy sukhi bhel chutney enhances the taste of bhel and makes it irresistible.
Preparing sukha bhel chutney is very easy. I prepare it in advance so that making Mumbai roadside sukha bhel fastens.
In the refrigerator, you can store this chutney in an airtight container for 15 to 20 days.
Why I Love Sukha Bhel Recipe?
- It gets ready in less than 15 minutes
- Spicy, tangy, delicious, and so addictive
- Perfect evening snack
- It is a reasonably healthy dish to eat, keeping you full for a long time.
- It’s vegan, low in calories, and gluten-free (if papdi is not added).
- Light on the stomach
- You can easily double or triple the recipe if making it for a crowd
Ingredient required
- Sukhi bhel Chutney: To make sukha bhel, you will need special dry chutney. You will need cilantro, mint leaves, Ginger, green chilies, daliya dal, cumin seeds, salt, black salt, black pepper powder, and lemon juice. You can make this chutney ahead of time and store it in the jar in the fridge.
- Puffed rice: Also called ‘Murmura’ or Kurmura, is the key ingredient. It is readily available in most Indian grocery stores or online. Buy the regular variety.
- Veggies: diced boiled potatoes, finely chopped red onions, and tomatoes.
- Papdi: Also known as Puri. It is a thin, savory, crunchy wafer available in Indian grocery stores. You can also make them at home. For this recipe, we will crush the puri and add and use it as a spoon for serving.
- Peanuts: I used readymade roasted peanuts. It’s readily available in Indian stores. You can use salted or unsalted peanuts. They add a nice crunch.
- Bhuna chana (roasted kala chana): It is also readily available in Indian grocery stores.
- Sev: Sev is a crispy and fine gram flour noodle, also known as nylon sev or nylon vermicelli. It’s readily available in Indian grocery stores. Make sure to use fresh for best tasting bhel.
- Seasonings: I have used chaat masala for seasoning.
- Lemon juice: Freshly squeezed lemon juice tastes the best and gives a refreshing taste.
- For garnish: Cilantro (coriander leaves) for the final touches.
Please refer to the recipe card for exact measurements of ingredients.
Step-by-step process
Prep work
- On a medium flame, dry roast the murmura (puffed rice) in a pan for about 5 to 6 minutes or until crisp. Make sure the color doesn’t change. Keep it aside.
For Sukha Bhel chutney
- Take all the chutney ingredients (Cilantro, Mint, Daliya dal, Ginger, green chilies, Salt, Black salt, black pepper powder, cumin seeds, and lemon juice) in a blender jar. Crush it into a coarse powder. Keep it aside.
- Note: This sukha bhel chutney recipe will make ¾ cup of chutney. We will use this chutney as required and store the remaining in the fridge for later use.
Let’s make sukha bhel
- Take roasted murmura in a big mixing bowl.
- Add peanuts, chana, boiled potatoes, chopped tomato, chopped onion, roughly crushed papdi, 3 to 4 tablespoons of prepared sukha bhel chutney, chaat masala, cilantro, lemon juice, and sev. Mix everything well. Give a taste test and add some more bhel chutney if required.
- Serve it immediately. Enjoy!!
Variations
- You can add vegetables such as grated carrot, beetroot, chopped cucumber, etc.
- To add more nutritional value, add steamed/parboiled Sprouted moong beans.
- If mangoes are in season, add diced raw mango for a tangy taste.
- Top the sukhi bhel with pomegranate seeds for a pop of color and a lovely crunch.
- You can even add some roasted chana dal for a nice crunch.
Make-Ahead instructions
You can prep all the ingredients, like dry chutney, boiled potatoes, and roasting peanuts, chop veggies a day before, and store them in the fridge. Assemble the bhel just before serving.
Notes, tips, and quick FAQs
- Keep all the ingredients ready before assembling the bhel.
- Dry roast the Murmura (puffed rice) to keep the bhel crisp for a little longer.
- Mix the moist ingredients (tomato, onion, and potato) with dry ingredients only when ready to serve.
- Adjust the dry bhel chutney as per your personal preferences.
- This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.
- Pack each ingredient separately in small boxes to carry this sukhi bhel for picnics or gatherings. Once you are ready to serve, mix everything in a large mixing bowl and serve.
- Make sure puffed rice, sev, and papdi are fresh-tasting (and not stale).
- The ready bhel mix (without chutney) is available in Indian grocery stores. You can use that in place of murmura, sev, peanut, bhuna chana, and papdi mixture. I love the Swad brand bhel mix.
To make a Jain version of this, skip adding Ginger, onions, and potatoes to the recipe. You can add chopped cucumbers instead.
No. I have used papdi (crispy puris) which is made of flour. Skip papdi to make it gluten-free. The rest of the ingredients and process remain the same.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge, but it’s best consumed within a day as they will get soft and soggy and will not be that crunchy.
Yes, it is a healthier snack. Puffed rice is low in calories and keeps you full for a long time. All the other ingredients added to bhel puri are also relatively healthy except the Sev and papdi, which is fried. You can skip those if you want to.
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Sukhi Bhel (Mumbai-style chaat recipe)
Ingredients
For Dry Bhel Chutney
- ⅓ cup daliya dal (Roasted Daliya split, available in Indian grocery stores)
- ¾ cup cilantro
- ⅓ cup mint
- 1 inch Ginger
- 3 to 4 green chili I have used spicy Thai green chilies, you can use any variety spicy chilies
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon black salt
For bhel
- 4 cups puffed rice murmura
- 1 cup tomato finely chopped
- 1 cup potato boiled , peeled, and diced into small cubes
- ½ cup onion finely diced
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
- ⅓ cup roasted peanuts
- ⅓ cup Bhuna chana roasted black chana
- 7 to 8 papdi
- ½ tablespoon chaat masala
- 1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ cup fine sev nylon sev
Instructions
Prep work
- On a medium flame, dry roast the murmura (puffed rice) in a pan for about 5 to 6 minutes or until crisp. Make sure the color doesn’t change. Keep it aside.
For Sukha Bhel chutney
- Take all the chutney ingredients (Cilantro, Mint, Daliya dal, Ginger, green chilies, Salt, Black salt, black pepper powder, cumin seeds, and lemon juice) in a blender jar. Crush it into a coarse powder. Keep it aside.
- Note: This sukha bhel chutney recipe will make ¾ cup of chutney. We will use this chutney as required and store the remaining in the fridge for later use.
Let’s make sukha bhel
- Take roasted murmura in a big mixing bowl.
- Add peanuts, chana, boiled potatoes, chopped tomato, chopped onion, roughly crushed papdi, 3 to 4 tablespoons of prepared sukha bhel chutney, chaat masala, cilantro, lemon juice, and sev. Mix everything well. Give a taste test and add some more bhel chutney if required.
- Serve it immediately. Enjoy!!
Video
Notes
- Keep all the ingredients ready before assembling the bhel.
- Dry roast the Murmura (puffed rice) to keep the bhel crisp for a little longer.
- Mix the moist ingredients (tomato, onion, and potato) with dry ingredients only when ready to serve.
- Adjust the dry bhel chutney as per your personal preferences.
- This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.
- Pack each ingredient separately in small boxes to carry this sukhi bhel for picnics or gatherings. Once you are ready to serve, mix everything in a large mixing bowl and serve.
- Make sure puffed rice, sev, and papdi are fresh-tasting (and not stale).
- The ready bhel mix (without chutney) is available in Indian grocery stores. You can use that in place of murmura, sev, peanut, bhuna chana, and papdi mixture. I love the Swad brand bhel mix.
Nutrition
Warm regards,
Dhwani.
Can we skip black pepper and black salt for dry bhel chutney?
You can skip black pepper, but i would highly recommend you to use black salt.