Kutchi Dabeli – Flavorsofmykitchen

When one mentions about the vibrant state of Gujarat, one has to also mention about its most famed street food, the sweet and tangy Dabeli. While Kacchi Dabeli is what it is more prominently known as, this Dabeli recipe of mine too will transport you to Gujarat for a while as you’ll relish it, bite by bite! The Dabeli Masala is one of the USPs of this snack, which is quite popular in Maharashtra as well.

What is Dabeli?

Dabeli is a popular street food that originated in Western India. It features sweet and spicy potatoes served on an Indian bun called a pav. Dabeli is also known as kutchi dabeli, kacchi dabeli, or kachchhi dabeli. Dabeli is lip smacking street food of India and it is a Gujarati name which means ‘pressed’. It is an Indian burger or mini slide recipe which is prepared with Indian bun aka ladi pav. In this preparation, the pav is first slit and then the chutneys are slathered into Khajur Imli Chutney Or Tamarind Chutney and red garlic chutney is used for the recipe. Then spicy, sweet, tangy potato filling that is prepared with dabeli masala powder is pressed and filled into the pav with different types of toppings like sev, peanuts, pomegranate seeds, onion, coriander leaves etc. Finally, the pav is fried on tawa with butter and served. It is satisfying, economical and enough to kill your hunger. In short, kacchi dabeli recipe is a perfect budget friendly street food for students and bachelors.

Previously, it was easily available mainly on the streets of Gujarat and Maharashtra. But now it is available in other parts of India because of its huge popularity. Dabeli recipe is mostly served as snacks but Indian street foods really don’t have any fixed time to devour.

Dabeli is a delicious Indian Street Food

Dabeli is very quick to make so in India you will often see this dish served as fast food or street food. Because it’s served on a bun, it’s easy to take along when you are on the go. This makes it the perfect lunch.

Indian street food has always been a centre of attraction in Indian cuisine. It known for its amazing flavours, different layers of texture and combinational taste which tickles all the taste buds of our mouth and dominates the senses. All these reasons have been drooling Indian people for street foods since decades.

Dabeli ingredients:

Ladi Pav: The outer part of dabeli which provides body to it. I prefer to prepare dabeli with homemade ladi pav because it turns out super soft, fresh and healthy. You can also prepare it with market bought pav. But check the date before buying it.

Dabeli Masala: One of the primary ingredients for the recipe. It is a spice blend of assemblage of whole spices – cumin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, sesame seeds, bay leaf, black cardamom, green cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, star anise, desiccated coconut, sugar, black salt, amchur powder and Kashmiri red chilli powder. It provides flavour and taste to the potato filling.

Potato filling: It is the sweet, tangy, spicy and flavoured potato mixture which is inserted into the ladi pav. To make this mixture, mashed potato, dabeli masala, sweet tamarind chutney, salt and water is required. Once the filling is prepared, it is spread on a plate or tray and different varieties of toppings are sprinkled over it.

Toppings: It is the most interesting part of the dabeli recipe where people add the toppings of their choice to make the potato filling more delicious and attractive. All these toppings provide different texture, taste and flavour to the dabeli recipe.

Mostly shredded coconut, sev, masala peanuts, chopped coriander seeds, tutti-frutti and pomegranate seeds are sprinkled over the potato filling. Many people prefer to add Tutti Frutti as well instead of pomegranate seeds and raisin.

Chutneys: In dabeli recipe, two different types of chutneys are required – red garlic chutney and sweet tamarind chutney. Sweet tamarind chutney is flavoured sweet and tangy in taste and on the other hand red garlic chutney is heaty, pungent and slightly salty in taste. Both the chutneys are slathered to the two inner sides of the pav before adding the potato filling.

Onion mix: It is one more important component which adds taste and flavour to the dabeli. In the onion mix, chopped onions, chopped coriander leaves and chopped green chillies are added and mixed. In this way, the recipe becomes handy and you don’t need to add them separately into the pav.

Masala peanut: Masala peanut is the mixture of roasted peanut, oil and dabeli masala. It has multiple use in dabeli recipe.

• • It is added as topping on potato filling

• • Into the pav separately with potato filling

• • Onion mix for extra byte and flavour

• • Served as a side with dabeli.

Butter: Butter is used to fry the dabeli at the end after adding all the fillings into the pav. It provides nice flavour and outer crisp to the pav.

Sev: It is used to seal the filling at the end other than topping which also provides crispiness to the dish.

How to Make Kutchi Dabeli?

To prepare the dabeli recipe, first prepare the dabeli masala powder. You can keep it in a clean and dry airtight container and store it in refrigerator for up to one month.

Then prepare the sweet tamarind chutney and Red garlic chutney.

Then make the masala peanut by adding some oil and dabeli masala into the roasted peanuts and mix them nicely so that each peanut gets coated with the masala.

Now it’s time to make the potato filling for the dabeli recipe. First boil the potatoes and peel them. Then mash them with a potato masher till smooth and keep it aside.

Now put a pan on flame and add some oil into it. Once the oil is hot, add turmeric, red chili powder, cumin coriander powder, dabeli masala into the pan and cook it in low flame for a minute. Then add sweet tamarind chutney into it and mix it well. Cook it in low flame and allow the mixture to become frothy. Then add the mashed potato into the pan and mix it well. Make sure no lumps are there. Add some water and cook it in low flame for 8-10 minutes until it comes out of the sides. Add some salt and sugar mix it well. Switch off the flame and transfer it to a flat plate or tray. Spread it evenly around ½ inch thick. Now it’s time to add topping over the potato filling. Sprinkle some grated coconut, raisins, nylon sev, masala peanuts, chopped coriander leaves and pomegranate seeds over the top and keep it aside. Then prepare the onion mixture by taking chopped onions into a bowl. Add chopped coriander leaves, chopped green chillies into the bowl and mix it well. Take nylon sev on a dry plate and keep it handy. Now it’s time to assemble all the elements to prepare dabeli. Take a ladi pav and slit it from two sides and make a pocket. Spread sweet tamarind chutney in one side and red garlic chutney in another side of the pav. Then stuff 1-2 tablespoons potato filling into the pav and press it downwards. Add ½ tablespoon masala peanut and ¾ tablespoon onion mixture into the pav. Then again add 1-2 tablespoons potato filling into the pav. Now put a pan on flame allow it to become completely dry. Put the flame on medium and add butter into the pan. Once the butter melts, add the stuffed pav into the pan and fry them till golden brown and crispy from each side over medium to medium high flame. It takes around 2 minutes to fry the pav properly from every side. Now roll the dabeli over the sev and seal the potato stuffing sides. Your dabeli is ready to serve.