Bhel Puri is an exceptionally popular street food in India. You must visit Mumbai to get the best tasting recipe. Just for you to understand what this chaat dish is, you could say it’s a simple potato salad. But that would not justify the mouth-watering blend of ingredients that goes into making this sublime street food. It has all the elements to elevate your food palate and make you want to have some more. Without further ado, let’s get to building…

What is Bhel Puri 

Bhel puri recipe gets its name from its primary ingredients which are puffed rice (Bhel in Hindi) and puri (a crispy flat cracker). With that as a base, we add boiled potatoes, finely chopped onions, tomatoes, raw mango, three different chutneys – sweet tamarind chutney, spicy green chutney, red garlic chutney, herbs, and finally a generous topping of cilantro and nylon sev (fried gram flour vermicelli that’s super thin). This appetizing chaat has a mix of textures and flavors. It is crispy and crunchy, hot and sweet, sour and tangy all at the same time. This might be a little confusing to understand until you taste Bhel puri.

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What you will need to make Bhel Puri

Ingredients

Note: 1 cup = 235 ml

1. 8 cups puffed rice (bhel in Hindi)
2. 4 medium potatoes boiled potatoes, roughly chopped
3. 2 cups tomatoes, finely chopped
4. 2 cups crispy flat puri (also called papdi in Hindi)
5. 1 cup sweet tamarind chutney
6. ¼ cup red garlic chutney
7. 1 cup spicy green chutney
8. 4 tsp. chaat masala
9. 1tsp. Kashmiri red chili powder
10. 1 tsp. salt
11. 1 cup peanuts, roasted
12. 1 cup red onions, finely chopped
13. 1 cup nylon sev
14. 1 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Equipment

1. 1 large mixing bowl
2. 1 flat spatula

A note on key ingredients used in Bhel Puri

Puffed Rice (Murmura in Hindi) When choosing the variety of puffed rice, go for the ones that are light and crispy. If you live in a humid place, quickly roast the puffed rice to activate the crispiness.

Papdi is an integral part of bhel puri recipe. Make sure you have a fresh batch from the store or you can make this at home as well. Look out for our gluten-free recipe coming soon!

Sev adds extra crunch and texture to bhel puri. Using a fine or thin variety not only looks appealing but also keeps it from overpowering the dish

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How to prepare Mumbai Street-style Bhel Puri – An Overview

Prep all required chutneys and salad vegetables. Assemble, mix well, add toppings and serve.

Tips before you begin

📝 Puffed rice used to make bhel puri has to be crispy and fresh. You can quickly heat a flat bottom pan and roast the puffed rice in it for a couple of minutes to bring back the crispiness. This is an important step if you live in humid places like Mumbai.

📝Add chutneys sparingly in the beginning and build on to your individual taste needs. 

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How to make Bhel Puri – Instructions with step-by-step images

Prep

Step 1 – Prepare the three essential chutneys, sweet tamarind chutney, red garlic chutney, and spicy green chutney

Step 2 – Boil 4 medium potatoes, peel and roughly chop them into small pieces

Step 3 – Prep, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and peanuts

Assemble Bhel Puri

Pro tip: Build your plate to your spice palate, so I’d suggest building it one batch at a time. Here you’ll see how I build a medium spice bhel puri

Step 4 – In a medium-size mixing bowl, add 2 cups of dry (puffed-rice) bhel, 1 cup roughly cut boiled potatoes, ½ cup finely chopped tomatoes

Step 5 – Now add ½ cup papdi after randomly breaking it with your hands as shown in the images below

Step 6 – Now add ¼ cup sweet tamarind chutney, 1 tsp. red garlic chutney, and 2 Tbsp. spicy green chutney

Step 7 – Let’s elevate it further by sprinkling extra spice blends. Add ½ tsp. chaat masala, ¼ tsp. Kashmiri red chili powder, and ¼ tsp. salt

Mix

Step 8 – Add ¼ cup roasted peanuts (this is optional), ¼ cup finely chopped red onions, and thoroughly mix everything with a flat spatula

Plate, Garnish & Serve

Step 9 – Transfer the bhel mix into two serving plates, garnish generously with ¼ cup nylon sev and 2 Tbsp. fresh cut cilantro, place a few whole papdis and enjoy!

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How I learned about this recipe 

Bhel puri needs no introduction if you were raised in India. It is a much-beloved street-side snack sold in every neighborhood food joint. But to find the best tasting ones, you need to explore the city. When I was living in Hyderabad, the best chaat vendors were in M.G.Road and Koti. I’d love to know which ones are popular now (please add them in the comments below).

I tried making bhel for the first time with the help of Mallika Badrinath’s 100 snacks – a mini recipe book. And it was one of the tastiest bhel recipes I’ve made (if you do not like garlic chutney)…but that was until I was introduced to Mumbai-style bhel puri by my better half. That bhel puri was on a whole different level. Hubby and I went along with the jokes that it was only the roadside pollution and sweat from the street vendors that gave it the magic touch and which we were never able to recreate at home.

I never tried to dive deep to see what the street vendors were doing that gave it that unique taste, until I moved to the US. You don’t miss home food until you are away from home. You know what I mean right? A few years later, when I decided to take every recipe to the next level from being good to sublime, the experiments became interesting. Perfecting the chutneys and learning how to use them while building the dish has led to what we have with us today, a lip-smacking snack, absolutely the best tasting, just like you’ll find it in the popular chaat places of Mumbai😋

Related Recipes

• Sev Puri
• Pani Puri
• Dahi Puri

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