It is a popular Indian street food made with puffed rice, peanuts, chaat chutneys, onions, tomatoes & sev. Post includes recipes to make chutneys required for bhel puri.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 5 minutes
  • Total time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 2 · 2 to 3
  • Category: Appetizer / starter
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 2 cups puffed rice
  • 2 tablespoons onions ((finely chopped))
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons tomatoes ((ripe, firm, chopped))
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons boiled potato (cubed (1 small))
  • 2 tablespoons coriander leaves ((finely chopped))
  • 1 green chili (chopped)
  • ½ to ¾ teaspoon chaat masala ((or amchur powder or lemon juice))
  • 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts
  • 10 papdis
  • ¼ cup nylon sev ((thin sev or farsan))
  • 1 to 2 pinches salt ((if needed))
  • 1 tablespoons green chutney ((recipe below))
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons tamarind paste ((or 2 tablespoons tamarind soak in hot water))
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons jaggery ((adjust to taste))
  • ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon roasted jeera powder
  • ⅛ teaspoon ginger powder
  • ⅛ teaspoon fennel powder
  • 4 tablespoons water
  • 1½ tablespoons red chilli powder ((or 10 to 15 soaked deseeded red chilies))
  • 4 to 5 garlic cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon salt ((adjust to taste))
  • 1 teaspoon sugar ((to balance the pungent taste))
  • ¼ teaspoon cumin powder ((or jeera/ cumin))
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons water ((adjust as required))
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice ((to balance the pungent taste))
  • ¾ cup coriander leaves
  • ¼ cup mint leaves
  • 1 to 2 spicy green chilli ((adjust to taste))
  • 8 to 10 green chilies ((low heat kind))
  • ¼ inch ginger
  • ½ teaspoon roasted cumin powder
  • 1 tablespoon roasted gram (or peanuts or desiccated coconut)
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice ((adjust to taste))
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Method

Tamarind Chutney

  1. To a small sauce pan, add tamarind paste, jaggery, salt, red chilli powder, ginger powder, fennel powder, cumin powder and salt. Pour water and make a smooth mixture.
  2. Bring this to a rolling boil and reduce the heat. Let simmer until thick. (check the step by step pics for consistency)
  3. Cool the tamarind chutney completely.

Green Chutney

  1. Add ¾ cup coriander leaves, ¼ cup mint or pudina leaves,1 to 2 green chilies, 8 to 10 less hot chilies (optional), ¼ inch ginger piece, ¼ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon jeera powder, 1 tablespoon fried gram, 2 teaspoons lemon juice & 2 tablespoons water to a blender jar.
  2. Blend everything until smooth. Scrape the sides and pour more water only as required and blend to a thick chutney.
  3. Taste and add more salt and chili if needed. green chutney is ready to use for bhel puri.

Red Chutney (Optional)

  1. To a grinder jar, add red chilli powder, garlic cloves, sugar, salt and 2 to 4 tablespoons water. If you want to use red chilies, boil half cup water and soak 10 to 15 deseeded red chilies. When they soften remove them from the water and add to a blender jar.
  2. Blend all the ingredients until smooth & thick, adding more water as required. Add little lemon juice.
  3. Taste it and add more salt or sugar if needed. Red chutney is ready for bhel puri.

How To Make Bhel Puri

  1. Optional - Boil potato just until done without making it mushy. I usually cube them and cook in a small pot until fork tender. Drain the potatoes. Cool them & air dry completely. You can also air fry the potatoes and use.
  2. If your puffed rice is not crisp then dry roast them in a pan until crisp. Cool completely.
  3. Add them to a mixing bowl along with boiled potatoes, onions, tomatoes, chilies & coriander leaves. Mix them up gently.
  4. Then add in tamarind chutney, green chutney, chaat masala & red chutney (or red chilli powder).
  5. Do not add a lot of chutney at one time, add only little by little as needed to prevent the bhel puri from turning mushy.
  6. Gently mix well to coat the puffed rice with chutney.
  7. Taste this and add in more chutney & salt as needed.
  8. Crush the papdis and add them along with peanuts and sev. Give a good stir.
  9. Garnish bhel puri with more sev and peanuts. Serve immediately.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.