Name: Sweet Potato Bhel Recipe – Indian Snack Salad with Puffed Rice, Mint and Tamarind Chutney
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Gluten-free, Indian, Vegan
Ingredients: 1 tbsp tamarind concentrate; 2 tbsp water; 2 tbsp maple syrup; 1/4 tsp ground cumin; 2 tsp sugar (coconut or raw or jaggery powder); a generous pinch of salt, cayenne; a generous pinch of kala namak (indian sulphur salt), or chaat masala; 2 cups puffed rice or rice crispies (white or brown rice or other unsweetened puffed grains); 1 small cucumber (chopped small); 1/2 cup finely chopped onion; 1 tomato (finely chopped); a bunch of mint (finely chopped); a bunch of cilantro (chopped); 1/2 cup cubed sweet potato (cooked and cubed small (measured when cubed)); 2 tbsp raw or roasted peanuts or chopped cashews (or add in some cooked chickpeas to make nut-free); 1/2 tsp chaat masala (, optional (See Recipe note for recipe)); 1/4 tsp salt (or more to taste); cayenne to taste; lemon juice; Sev (chickpea flour noodles); Papdi (wheat crackers, omit to make gluten-free)

Bhel /Bhel Puri is a popular Indian street snack which has a combination of puffed rice, bhel mix, chopped up tomato, onion, cubed cooked potato, mint and cilantro or mint cilantro chutney, tamarind chutney. Bhel mix is usually some crispy chickpea flour noodles + crackers + toasted nuts mixture that you can find at an indian store. Depending on the area, Bhel can have other veggies, sprouts, or some oil and othr names like Churmuri, Jhalmudi.

For this version, I use puffed brown rice. You can use any other puffed or krispie grains such as quinoa, wheat, kamut or millet. Instead of regular potato I use cooked sweet potato in today’s recipe. Sweet Potatoes amazingly well with the sweet sour 5 minute Tamarind chutney and minty flavor profile. Try it!

Add sprouted or cooked Mung beans, chickpeas or lentils to the mix to make it a filling snack. Also see video below.
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Sweet Potato Bhel Recipe - Indian Street Food style Snack Salad with Mint and Tamarind Chutney. Puffed Rice tossed with cooked sweet potato, nuts, onion, cucumber and tomato and dressed in chopped mint and 5 minute Tamarind Chutney. Vegan Bhel Puri Recipe. Can be glutenfree and nutfree. | VeganRicha.com

If the puffed grains aren’t fresh and crispy, you can refresh them by toasting lightly on a skillet for a few minutes and use. You can also use store bought tamarind or tamarind date chutney for a quick fix. This summer, we had our share of Bhel puri on hot summer days when my family was visiting. If you ever traveled in trains in India, stopped at the small road stalls for snacks, tried the chaat style dishes, then you know why this is a popular evening snack.

Most of the Indian Street style snacks are meant to please many of the tastes to get you to want to eat more of it. Lots of flavor and texture combinations make it a unique style of food. In this recipe, the ingredients all together have contrasting flavors and textures, crisp and wet, sweet and sour, fresh herbs + veggies and soft cooked potatoes. Its an explosion of DELICIOUS with each bite!

More Indian Snacks from the blog

The Sev (Chickpea flour noodles) are a savory noodle that are made with chickpea flour, water and spices and deep fried to crisp. Omit them if you cannot find any. Papdi are wheat crackers. Use other wheat crackers or savory crackers of choice. Or make make your own (Baked potato rice crackersGF,Baked Maida Papdi – Cumin seed Crackers).

Kala namak(Indian Sulphur black salt), other than adding eggy tastes to tofu scrambles, is often used to flavor different Chaat dishes.

Video:

Bhel Recipe- Indian snack Salad with Puffed Rice, Sweet Potato and Tamarind Chutney

Sweet Potato Bhel Recipe - Indian Street Food style Snack Salad with Mint and Tamarind Chutney. Puffed Rice tossed with cooked sweet potato, nuts, onion, cucumber and tomato and dressed in chopped mint and 5 minute Tamarind Chutney. Vegan Bhel Puri Recipe. Can be glutenfree and nutfree.