Bhel Puri

Bhel puri is a popular Indian street-style snack made using puffed rice as its base ingredient. This tangy, spicy and very slightly sweet chaat can be made in just 10 minutes if you have the ingredients ready. Here is my easy recipe to make at home.

If you love street food like me, then you have to try some of my best chaat recipes – Samosa Chaat, Papdi Chaat, Aloo Tikki Chaat, Dahi Puri and Chana Chaat.

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• About This Recipe
• Ingredients
• How to Make Bhel Puri
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Pro Tips By Neha
• You Might Also Like
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About This Recipe

Bhel Puri is one of the most popular street food in India. It is a delicious and flavorful medley of puffed rice, chutneys, and an array of spice powders.

Bhelpuri is sweet, salty, and spicy with a little hint of tanginess and it is low-fat and nutritious too. The best part is that you can customize it to suit your taste.

You can make it either dry (sukha bhel) or wet (geela bhel). The dry version is made without the chutneys while the wet one has coriander mint and tamarind chutney added to it. I personally like the one with chutneys added to it as they elevate the flavor of this snack a lot.

You will find many variations of bhelpuri in India. In West Bengal, it is called jhalmuri and in Karnataka, it is called churmuri. Each version is slightly different from the other but delicious in its own way.

One portion (Approx. 1 cup) of bhelpuri has approximately 125 calories. It is a fairly healthy dish to eat and it keeps you full for a long time. On days when I want to serve a quick, healthy yet delicious tea-time snack to my family, bhelpuri is my savior.

It is vegan, low in calories, and gluten-free too. You can easily double or triple the recipe if making it for a crowd.

Ingredients

You will get all the ingredients to make bhelpuri in an Indian grocery store. Check out the ones near you. You can also find the ingredients online.

Puffed Rice – Puffed rice (Murmure) are very light and low on calories making them a delicious guilt-free snack. Make sure they are perfectly crispy and not soggy.

Fresh Ingredients – Puffed rice is mixed with fresh tomatoes, onions, boiled potatoes, cilantro, green mangoes, and green chili peppers. You can adjust the amount of green chili peppers as per your taste.

If green mangoes are not in season, you can skip adding them.

Chutney – To make wet bhelpuri, you will need tamarind chutney and coriander mint chutney. You can make these chutneys at home or buy them. If you are not pressed with time, I suggest making the chutneys at home as they are much delicious than the store-bought bottles.

If you like it to make spicy bhelpuri, you can add some red garlic chutney to it.

Spice Powders – To add more taste, we will add in some everyday spice powders such as salt, Kashmiri red chili powder, and chaat masala spice mix. While red chili powder adds a nice spicy kick and chaat masala adds to the tanginess.

Lime Juice & Sev – Finish it off with some freshly squeezed lime juice and garnish it with fine sev (a vermicelli-like snack made from chickpea flour). If you do not have the fine sev, you can add any sev that you prefer.

You can even add some roasted or fried peanuts for a nice crunch.

How to Make Bhel Puri

Preparation

Make the chutneys. Check out my tamarind chutney and coriander mint chutney recipes.

Chop the onions, tomatoes, green chili peppers, and cilantro.

Boil the potatoes, peel and cube them. You can boil them in an instant pot, traditional pressure cooker, or in a pot over the stovetop.

1. Traditional Pressure Cooker – Wash and scrub the potatoes nicely. Add the potatoes to the cooker along with 2-3 cups of water. Close the lid of the pressure cooker and cook for 1 whistle on high heat, then lower the heat to medium-low and cook for another 2 more whistles. Remove the cooker from heat and let the pressure release on its own.

2. Instant Pot – Add the potatoes and 1 cup of water to the pot. Press PRESSURE COOK and set the timer to 5 minutes. Set the valve to the sealing position and let the timer finish. Let the pressure release on its own for 10 minutes and then move the valve to release the remaining pressure. Open the lid.

3. Pot – You can also cook the potatoes in a pot over the stovetop. Cut the potatoes in half. Heat water in a large pot. Add the potatoes and cover and cook on medium-low heat until they are softened.

Peel and chop the green mangoes if using.

If the puffed rice has become soggy, then roast it in a pan until crisp again.

Mixing The Ingredients

In a large bowl, mix together 3 teaspoon coriander mint chutney, 3 teaspoon tamarind chutney, ½ cup chopped onions, ½ cup chopped tomatoes, 1 teaspoon chopped green chili peppers, 3 tablespoon chopped cilantro, ½ cup boiled and cubed potatoes, 2 tablespoon peeled and chopped green mango, salt to taste, ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, and 1 teaspoon chaat masala powder.

Add 2 cups of puffed rice and 1 tablespoon lime juice to the bowl and mix the contents of the bowl together.

Serve the bhelpuri in a bowl and garnish with fine sev. Once you mix the puffed rice with other ingredients, make sure to serve it immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Pro Tips By Neha

Serve it as soon as you make it otherwise it will turn soft and soggy which won’t taste great.

Prep is important! Keep all the ingredients ready before assembling the bhel puri.

To keep the bhelpuri crisp for a little longer, you can dry roast the puffed rice a little bit and then cool it down completely.

You can also make variations and add more veggies such as grated carrot, grated beetroot, chopped cucumber, etc.

Adjust the quantity of chutneys and spice powders and prepare it according to your taste.

This is a great snack to carry for your picnics. Just pack each ingredient in a small box and a large bowl to mix. Once you are ready to serve, just mix everything together and serve immediately.

This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.

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