Unlike its cousins Vada Paav and Paav Bhaji, Misal Paav is not well known outside Maharashtra. Having met two self confessed misal fanatics and having tasted it along with them, it will be gross injustice to misal, if I don't blog about it. Mmhm the word misal brings back several old memories of brunches and afternoon naps on the weekend.
So what is Misal ?? Misal is Manna to some and spice bomb to some. You decide which side you choose. Misal is a mixture of Farsan (Mixture) with rasa (Usal) made of sprouted green or black gram or pea or any of the seasonal varieties served with a layer of oil base called Kut or Cut. It is spicy and if you are not used to spicy food, stay away but carry the guilt that you are going to miss a delicacy savored by many. It will take a seasoned Cook to make the Usal and with the right consistency. If you become a master misal eater you can devour up to 3-10 paavs with one misal. Pune has some famous places to try misal, here is my partial list.
http://www.recipesindian.com/indian_recipes/indian_snacks_recipes/Spicy-Misal.html
So what is Misal ?? Misal is Manna to some and spice bomb to some. You decide which side you choose. Misal is a mixture of Farsan (Mixture) with rasa (Usal) made of sprouted green or black gram or pea or any of the seasonal varieties served with a layer of oil base called Kut or Cut. It is spicy and if you are not used to spicy food, stay away but carry the guilt that you are going to miss a delicacy savored by many. It will take a seasoned Cook to make the Usal and with the right consistency. If you become a master misal eater you can devour up to 3-10 paavs with one misal. Pune has some famous places to try misal, here is my partial list.
- Tulsi Restaurant - This restaurant situated on Baner Road, near the symantec office serves consistently good misal in taste. Decent place and must try place if you enjoy misal.
- Ramnath - Located on Laxmi Road, this is a very small but very famous place in Pune to eat misal. The menu board says 'Java Marg Misal' and this is definitely not for the faint hearted. If you have guts you will gain glory. The drawbacks about this place are (i) The place is small and crammed, you might have to wait (ii) they serve misal only with bread no paavs my friend :-(
- Swaad - This is a small shack located on Shivaji Housing Society adjacent to Pyramid Mall and ICC. There isn't much to write about this place but the misal served here is just okay.
- Bedekar - This is located somewhere near Appa balwan Chowk (ABC). Lot of people like the misal served here but I didn't like it that much. The farsan was thick variety and the usal or bhaji was just too thick for me. Once again this place also served misal with bread ..darn it. Try it for name sake.
http://www.recipesindian.com/indian_recipes/indian_snacks_recipes/Spicy-Misal.html
Misal Paav
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