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Dabeli Recipe (Street Style)

Madhushree Dutta
Recipe to make delicious street food style Dabeli at home. Simple ingredients, instructions, and equipment to cook Gujrati-style Dabeli easily.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Snack
Cuisine Gujrati, Indian
Servings 4 servings

Equipment

  • 1 Kadhai
  • 1 Induction Cooktop

Ingredients
  

For the Aloo filling

  • 3 Potatoes medium
  • 1 Onion medium
  • 1 tbsp Coconut grated
  • 2 tbsp Pomegranate
  • tbsp Coriander leaves finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp Peanuts salted or spiced
  • ½ tsp Cumin seeds
  • 1 pinch Asafoetida Hing
  • 2 tbsp Sev
  • 2 tbsp Tamarind Chutney
  • tsp Dabeli Masala
  • Oil
  • Salt to taste

For the Dabeli Masala

  • ½ tsp Cumin seeds
  • ½ tsp Fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp Coriander seeds
  • ½ tsp Black Peppercorns
  • 1 Black Cardamom pod
  • 5-6 Cloves
  • ½ inch Cinnamon stick
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • 1 tsp Sesame seeds
  • 1 Star Anise
  • 2 Dried Red Chili
  • ½ tsp Turmeric powder
  • 2 tbsp Dried Coconut
  • 1 tsp Aamchur powder
  • Salt to taste ;preferred ½ tsp
  • Sugar to taste; preferred 1 tsp

For the Red Chili Garlic Chutney

  • 5-6 Garlic cloves
  • tsp Lime or lemon juice
  • Salt to taste

Other ingredients

  • 4 Pav
  • Tamarind Chutney
  • 1 Onion medium; finely chopped
  • Butter
  • Sev

Instructions
 

Prepare the Dabeli Masala

  • First, take a kadhai or a skillet and let it heat.
  • Keep the flame on medium.
  • When the skillet starts to smoke a little add the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, black peppercorns, black cardamom pod, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, sesame seeds, star anise, dried red chilis, and dried coconut.
  • Stir and dry roast them on low flame.
  • Continue roasting until fragrance comes out of the aromatics.
  • Turn off the flame and let it cool down completely.
  • After this, take a mixer grinder and add all the dry roasted spices.
  • To this, add turmeric powder, Aamchur powder, salt to taste, and sugar to taste.
  • Grind this into a fine powder. Make sure that there is no whole spice left in the blender. Keep this aside.

Boil the potatoes

  • For the aloo filling, wash the potatoes and put them in either a boiling pot or a pressure cooker.
  • Fill it with sufficient water and boil the potatoes until they are cooked completely.
  • Check with a fork and when they are done, keep them aside to cool down completely.
  • Next, peel the potatoes and transfer them into a large mixing bowl.
  • Mash the potatoes well and keep them aside.

Fry the onion

  • Peel and chop the onion finely.
  • Now, take a kadhai or a cooking pan and add oil.
  • Let the oil heat until it smokes a little.
  • To this, add the cumin seeds.
  • Stir until it starts to crackle.
  • Add the onion to the kadhai and combine them.
  • Stir them consistently until the onion becomes soft and translucent. Keep the flame on medium.

Prepare the Aloo Filling

  • Next, add the asafoetida and stir for a few seconds. By now the onion will be completely cooked.
  • Now, add the tamarind chutney.
  • Combine everything well and add the mashed potatoes.
  • Add the already prepared Dabeli masala.
  • Mix and stir from all sides so that the mashed potatoes get incorporated with all the ingredients.
  • Add salt to taste to the mixture and combine again.
  • When the mixture starts to thicken properly take a taste test. If it gets too dry you may add a splash of water.
  • Transfer the potato mixture to a plate if you are satisfied with it.
  • Spread the mix a little on the plate and sprinkle the grated coconut on it. Keep this aside.

Prepare the Red Chili Garlic Chutney

  • For the chutney, soak the dried red chilis in warm water for about an hour.
  • After the soaking time, strain the water and put the chilis into a blender.
  • Next, peel the garlic cloves and chop them roughly.
  • Add them into the blender along with salt to taste.
  • Also, add the lime or lemon juice and blend these into a fine and smooth paste. (We want a thick consistency of the chutney, however, if you please you may add a bit of water to it while blending).
  • Keep this aside to use later.

Roast the Pav for the Dabeli

  • Take the pav or the buns and slice them from the middle into two halves.
  • Now, take a skillet or a tawa and add butter to it.
  • Let the butter melt completely and then put the buns for roasting.
  • Lightly roast both halves of the bun.
  • Do this with all the buns or pavs and keep them aside.

Assemble the Dabeli

  • Before starting to assemble the Dabeli, finely chop an onion.
  • Next, take the already prepared potato filling and to it add the sev, finely chopped coriander leaves, and pomegranate pearls.
  • Now, take on half of a bun and spread some tamarind chutney on it. On the other halve spread the red chili and garlic chutney.
  • To one half, put a portion of the already prepared potato filling.
  • Add some chopped onions and some more coriander leaves.
  • Also, top the filling off with some salted or spiced peanuts.
  • Now sprinkle some Dabeli masala.
  • Add some more sev as the last topping.
  • Cover the top with the other half and gently press it down.
  • Repeat this with all the pavs.
  • Garnish the Debeli with some sev, pomegranate pearls, and a pinch of chopped coriander leaves for a pop of color.
Keyword Street Food Recipe