Dabeli | Dabeli Masala | Kacchi Dabeli Recipe

Dabeli is a delicious sweet and spicy Indian street food snack or chaat recipe made by stuffing the potato mixture, which is prepared using dabeli masala on a ladi pav (burger bun) along with tamarind chutney, garlic chili chutney and garnishes such as onion, sev, pomegranate seeds, and roasted masala peanuts.

Don't miss checking out popular and easy-to-make Indian snacks and street food.

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• About the recipe
• Quick tip before you start making dabeli
• Ingredients
• Step-by-step instructions
• Tips
• Recipe FAQS
• More Indian chaat and street food recipes
• Recipe card
• User Reviews

About the recipe

Dabeli, also known as kacchi dabeli or kutchi dabeli, or double roti, is a popular Indian street food from the Kutch region of Gujarat. It is popularly known for its sweet, spicy, and tangy flavors, making it a delightful snack.

Dabeli means pressed in Gujarat. Dabeli filling made with spiced potato mixture is pressed or stuffed between pav (dinner rolls), which is spread with Indian chaat chutneys like date, mint, or red chili garlic and then topped with a lot of garnish from sev, onion, coriander leaves to peanuts.

Some also refer to this snack as Indian slider, desi burger, or kachchhi dabeli.

Don't confuse dabeli with the popular Mumbai vada pav. They both look similar but have different flavors and texture.

Quick tip before you start making dabeli

• The ingredients and steps may look overwhelming if you are a beginner. But if you have everything ready like a chaat shop, then you can assemble and serve dabeli in less than a minute.
• To make your task easy, you can make the potato mixture the previous day and store it in the refrigerator. This can be stored for 3 to 4 days.
• You can make ahead of time the tamarind chutney and store it in the refrigerator for up to seven days.
• Red chili garlic chutney can also be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.
• Just prep the garnishes and peanut masala mixture the day you're ready to serve so that they remain fresh with their crunch.

Love chaats? Then check out Mumbai street style simple pav bhaji, bhel puri, kachori, homemade.

Ingredients

For the aloo stuffing: Potatoes, onion, garlic, oil, tamarind chutney, red chile powder, and homemade dabeli masala or store-bought ones.

For garlic chili chutney: Dry red chilies, garlic cloves, and lemon juice.

Masala peanuts: Peanuts with some oil, red chile powder, and turmeric

Garnish: Never miss the garnish on Indian chaat; it enhances the taste of the dish. You will need sev, onion, coriander leaves, and a pinch of black salt.

Pav: Ladi pav, honey butter rolls, yeast rolls, dinner rolls, burger buns, anything can be used. See that it is fresh and good quality.

See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements

Step-by-step instructions

Chili garlic chutney

• Add red chilies, garlic, and lemon juice with a pinch of salt in a blender or mixie jar.
• Pulse it and then add little water and grind to smooth paste. Keep this aside.

Make the potato or aloo filling

• In a pan, add vegetable oil and cumin seeds and saute this for a few seconds.
• Add the onions, garlic, asafoetida, and salt and saute till the onions turn translucent.
• Add tamarind chutney to the onions and mix well. 
• Add mashed potatoes, chile powder, dabeli masala, and salt to taste and mix well until everything is combined, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. 
• Garnish with coriander leaves, mix, and switch of the flame. 

Masala peanuts

• Heat oil in a small pan, add peanuts, and roast it for 2 to 3 minutes. If you are using salted peanuts, skip the salt. Else, add a pinch of salt to taste, along with red chili powder and turmeric powder.
• Mix well and switch off the flame.

Dabeli masala mixture

Transfer the dabeli filling prepared to a wide plate or a bowl. Garnish it with roasted masala peanuts, raw onions, onions, coriander leaves, sev, grated coconut, pomegranate, chat masala, black salt, and red chili powder. Make sure you reserve a small portion of these garnish ingredients for the final garnish before serving.

How to serve dabeli

• Slice through pav or rolls almost ¾th way through, taking care not to split them completely (this ensures that rolls act like a pocket for dabeli stuffing). 
• Between the pav, spread dates chutney or tamarind chutney on one half and chile-garlic chutney on the other half. 
• Add a couple of tablespoons of garnished dabeli stuffing on one half and add the garnish ingredients.
• Serve and enjoy.

Tips

• I have given the link for green mint chutney in the ingredient list. You can use green coriander mint chutney instead of red garlic chutney if desired. 
• The key to Indian chaat is the garnish. Especially onions, coriander leaves, and sev. So don't miss it. 
• You can also toast the pav with butter for a rich flavor. 
• Pomegranate seeds can be substituted with raisins. 
• You can also use apple butter instead of dates chutney by flavoring 2 tablespoon of apple butter (dilute apple butter with some water to desired consistency) with ¼ teaspoon of chili powder, ½ teaspoon of chat masala, and a pinch of black salt.
• You can use store-bought dabeli masala for the recipe. It is easily available in any Indian store or online. 
• I have also tried using pav bhaji masala instead of dabeli masala, and it still tastes good. So you can use that also. 

Recipe FAQS

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Recipe card

This post for Dabeli Indian snack was first published in Oct 2016. Updated with recipe maker, calorie information and more details.