Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Misal Pav ( Moth bean curry with traditional Indian bread)

Misal Pav

"Misal" is a traditional Maharastrian (from the state of Maharashtra) dish and actually means "mixture". It's made of sprouted Moth beans called 'matki' in Marathi. It's one of my husbands favourite Marathi dishes and though I grew up in the state of Maharashtra, I ate it for the first time when I visited hubby's hometown in Belgaum, Karnataka (which is situated very close to Maharastra).Till then I had only eaten it's counterpart and the more famous dish called "Pav Bhaji". Pav in Marathi means bread and seems to have originated from the Portuguese term for bread-"pao".
Today happens to be hubby's birthday and like always,I wanted to cook up something special. I was looking for ideas and had even asked a couple of friends for something new to make. The usual suggestions of "biryani,paneer butter masala, kofta" was politely turned down (cause I've been making similar stuff for the past b'day's) and then my friend Shilpa came up with this brilliant idea of making 'Misal Pav',and I thought "why not-it's his favorite,and I've never made it before"!!
This was sometime last week,so I spent a good amount of time surfing a couple of blogs for the right recipe as I've eaten it only once before and that too in a restaurant,four years ago. I finally zeroed it down to two recipes,that I felt must be the authentic way of making it.
The soaking and sprouting of the beans takes two days, so I had to do some 'back-calculation' as I like to call it,which went like this: Birthday-Wednesday,so soak beans on Monday night, Tuesday rinse beans and tie in muslin cloth and keep it in some place warm,and hope that it has sprouted on D-day!!
Since I haven't made any changes to the original recipes I saw in the two blogs,I'm just going to give a link to them. So,you can check out the recipes here(this one gives the recipes to make the masala as well) and here.
Shilpa had given me the all important masala which her MIL had made called "Goda Masala/Kala Masala" which gives this dish it's distinct flavour, so thankfully I didn't have to make any.
The 'misal' once ready, is eaten after mixing it with freshly chopped onions, coriander/cilantro, green chillies(optional), a little "farsan/Chiwda/Bombay mix" to give it a crunchy texture and a dash of lime. I substituted 'Potato rolls' for the pav and the end result was "simply superb" to quote hubby dear!!

25 comments:

Pearl said...

that looks so delicious. happy birthday to your dear hubby!

Diana H said...

I think it looks like a tasty dish. It's nice to try something new and have it be a success.

Gina; The Candid RD said...

Great idea, making something new. I'm sure he will appreciate it :) I think that was one of the dishes my friend Smita made for us once, and it was excellent!

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

Delicious! Looks great!

Jenn said...

A lovely meal to make for a special day. Happy birthday to the your hubby!!

Gita Jaishankar said...

Wow..thats a very delicious platter :)

Tilusha said...

Fellow Indian always looking for new recipes so grateful T (Rebecca's close friend and newbie blogger!)

chow and chatter said...

happy birthday to your hubby looks great

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Wow looks so good and delicious.. I too love this ... Looks awesome dear... wish to have that platter i feel happy now if some makes this for me hungry seeing it and drooling. Happy b'day for ur hubby..

KennyT said...

Sweta, you make me crave Indian food again, haha

Renus Kitchen said...

great click !!

Jyoti said...

What a delicious spread!

theUngourmet said...

Happy Birthday wishes to your hubby! I wish my son would have eaten a dish this healthy and delicious for his birthday!

Priya Suresh said...

Happy birthday to ur happy, lovely misal pav,looks pretty delicious..

Heather S-G said...

That is a delicious looking plate of food...and things I've never tried, so I am intrigued! I hope your hubby's day is wonderful :D

Unknown said...

There is NO END to wonderful pulse dishes! What a birthday treat! I had to follow your link to the recipe and.... O yum!

Hari Chandana P said...

Wow... looks gr8 n delicious.. keep rocking!!

Anupama said...

What a nutritious meal!!!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday to your husband! A great looking meal to celebrate with!

Juliana said...

Yummie, such a nice combination of ingredients, sounds and looks very tasty.

Lori said...

Loved this lesson! I've never had or heard of moth beans before. This looks so great! Happy B-day to your husband!

Parita said...

One of my fav chaat food!

eatingRD said...

wow, I love hearing all your great cooking adventures :) I wish I could try all your creations. Glad your hubby liked it, have a great weekend!
-kristen

Simply Life said...

That looks like a delicious meal! We just had a great Indian meal for my birthday and it just doesn't get any better! :)

Anonymous said...

oh, I have been longing to have this..looks great.I love the pic of the plate with all the pockets filled.