Bhel is a very famous and tasty chat one can find anywhere in India. Everyone has a different style of making bhel. Any version of this dish is delicious.
Puffed rice or churmuri is the main ingredient of bhel. What will you do if you cannot find it nearby. Here is the solution. Take thick avalakki(poha/flattened rice) and deep fry it in oil. While deep frying, keep in mind to do it on a very low flame and the oil should be very hot. At a time, fry around one table spoon to make sure all the flattened rice is puffed evenly. (If any mistake is done in this step, the complete bhel will get spoiled. So be careful).
Ingredients: Puffed rice  1 and 1/2 cup Onion(finelly chopped) 1/4 cup Carrot(Grated) 1/4 cup Tomato(finelly chopped)  1/4 cup Cucumber(grated)  1/4 cup Green chillies(cut into small pieces)  1 Oil  1 tea spn Peanuts(fried)  1 tbl spn Chilli powder  1/2 tea spn Coriander leaves   2-3 strands Lemon juice   1 tbl spn Sev    1/4 cup Salt
Method: Heat oil and cool it or else use the oil which was previously used for deep frying. In a vessel, mix all the ingredients(except puffed rice and sev) thoroughly. Just before serving, add puffed rice and mix. Spread sev on it and serve. (After mixing the puffed rice, serve it immediately).
Serves : 2 Preparation time :15min
These days I can see lots and lots of corn in all the farmer’s markets. Whenever I see them, I think of my college days in Balgaum. We used to eat a lot of ‘butta’, which was fried on charcoal. The road side gadiwalas applied salt, lemon and some spicy chutney. They were so tasty.
In Bangalore, we get the masala corn, butter corn etc. In my pachi’s house, they prepare some dish with for Ganesh Chaturthi, where in the corn cobs are cut into two and they are cooked with some other vegetables in coconut gravy. I will post that recipe sometime later.
Corn upkari is a very simple and very tasty dish. I have learnt it from Pachi and since then, I am a big fan of it.
Ingredients: Corn 1 cup Onion 3/4 cup Coconut 1 tbl spn Green chillies 3-4 Coriander leaves 2-3 strands Oil 1 tea spn Asafoetida a pinch Curry leaves 4-5 Mustard 1/2 tea spn Salt
Method: Heat oil and fry mustard. When they start popping, add curry leaves, asafoetida, green chillies and onion. Fry till the onions turn translucent. Now add corn and coconut, add 1/2 cup water, salt, close the lid and cook till corn becomes tender. Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve with chapathi or rice.
Serves : 3 Preparation time : 15min
