Makhana Bhel – Gluten & Soy Free Vegan Foxnut Indian Salad

Makhana Bhel, an Indian snack that is sure to tantalize your taste buds! This low-calorie snack is light on tummy and tastes delicious to your palate. Makhanas are super nutritious food to incorporate in your daily diet. Makhana Bhel is the perfect healthy snack to include in your daily regime and get the most benefit of Makhanas. I like to indulge on this as a salad for lunch instead of snack, then I can have a bigger portion of this delicious Makhana Bhel. Dig into it with me!

What is BhelPuri

Bhelpuri is a savory snack that falls under the popular category of ‘Street Food – Chaat’ originating from the Indian subcontinent. BhelPuri has an iconic status for its low-fat, nutritious, delicious yet spicy characteristics. Traditionally is made with puffed rice, deep fried flour crackers, sweet, sour and spicy chutneys, veggies and fruits like onions, tomatoes, cucumber, potatoes, green mango, pomegranate etc.

What is Makhana

Makhanas are popularly known as Phool Makhana, Lotus Seeds, Fox Nuts, Euryale Ferox and Gorgon Nuts. Makhana is an aquatic crop and mostly cultivated in wet and marshy lands of Asian countries. India is the only country where makhana is cultivated as crop, mainly in the Northern Bihar and some parts of Assam and Manipur. Bihar accounts for more than 85 per cent of the makhana produced in the country.

The seeds grow on the leaf in a pond or ideally in stagnant water. Collected seeds are then washed and sun-dried for a couple of hours. After they dry up, they are roasted in a pan at high flame and then hit immediately so that the black shells are broken and white puff pops out.

Health Benefits of Makhana

Enriched with the goodness, Makhanas are packed with protein, potassium, phosphorus, fiber, magnesium, iron and zinc. Makhanas are low in cholesterol, fat, sodium as well as low in glycemic index. Makhanas make perfect snack for those suffering from high blood pressure, heart diseases and diabetes. Other than anti-aging enzymes, presence of natural flavonoid called kaempferol helps prevent inflammation and ageing. Makhanas are low in calories, make an ideal snack to satiate for in-between meal hunger pangs. So, binging on Makhana won’t harm your weight loss journey.

Quick and Easy to Make

To make Makhana Bhel all you need is 15 minutes and everyday ingredients from your pantry. You’ll need some produce like onion, tomato, cucumber, boiled potato, sweet peppers, green mango and pomegranate arils. Produce selection may vary based on the season.

Don’t forget to include the favorite chutneys! Most of us keep green chutneys and tamarind chutney in our refrigerator most of the time. If not, here is the recipe for green cilantro chutney I have used. It is really simple. Soon I’ll also share Tamarind and dates sweet chutney.

We’ll add some spices like salt, red chili powder and chaat masala. At the end few of your favorite crispy protein rich ingredients to add the crunch. Voilà! Your Makhana BhelPuri will be ready in no time.

Tips and Tricks to make best Makhana Bhel

1. Make sure Makhana are crispy – Either dry roast them on a stovetop on medium heat, or in microwave in the increments of 30 sec. For even roasting stir them in between.
2. Roughly crush the makhanas –  Make sure they don’t fly away or roll out while mixing them with other ingredient.
3. Spice level can be modified to individual’s choice. To make it spicier increased the quantity of green chutney as well as green chilis.
4. Adding nuts and roasted chickpeas is a great idea to make it a protein rich snack.
5. Stay green on health meter by avoiding adding deep fried tidbits.

6. Go wild with your imagination and topped with hempseeds and chia seeds.
7. Here, in this recipe I chose to add roasted pumpkin seeds because of its high protein content.
8. Go light on salt as we will be adding a lot of salt through other ingredients.
9. To keep it crisp for longer period of time add roasted Makahana only when ready to eat.
10. Mix all the ingredients except makhana in one bowl and keep it aside until ready to use.
11. You can as well pack Makhana Bhel for light work lunch. Make sure you pack roasted Makahan in separate Ziploc or container.

Makhana Bhel Ingredients

Produce:

• Cucumber: 1/2 cup /100 gms, peeled & diced.
• Onion: 1/2 cup/100 gms, diced
• Tomato: 1/2 cup/100 gms, diced
• Potato: 1/2 cup boiled and diced
• Pomegranate Arils: ½  cup
• Fresh Cilantro: 2 tbs/10 gms, finely chopped
• Fresh Mint: 2 tbs/8 gms, finely chopped
• Green Chili: 1 tsp/3 gms, finely chopped
• Lime or Lemon Juice: 2 tbs

Pantry / Protein:

• Makhana/Fox Nuts: 4 cups/ 120 gms
• Peanuts – Roasted salted : ¼ cup/ 227 gms
• Chickpeas – Roasted salted : ¼ cup
• Cashews – Roasted salted : ¼ cup
• Pumpkin seeds – Roasted salted : ¼ cup
• Jalapeno Crisp: ¼ cup + for topping (Skip for gluten free version)
• Nylon Sev: ¼ cup for topping (optional)

Spices:

• Salt/Namak: ½ tsp
• Red chili powder/Laal mirch: ½ tsp
• Chaat Masala: 2 tsp
• Cilantro Mint Green Chutney: 1Tbs
• Tamarind & Dates sweet Chutney: 2Tbs

Instructions for Makhana Bhel

1. Dy roast makhanas on medium heat till crunchy. Keep stirring in between for even roasting. Makhana can be roasted in microwave as well.
2. Once roasted, let the Makhana cool down a bit and then transfer in a gallon size Ziploc.
3. Secure the Ziploc carefully and roughly crush the Makhanas using rolling pin.
4. In a separate mixing bowl add all the chopped vegetables and stir.
5. Then add roasted peanuts, cashews, chickpeas, pumpkin seeds and jalapeno crisps.
6. Add, chopped green chilis, cilantro, mint, both the chutneys, spices and lime juice. 
7. Give it a good stir. Keep this mixture separate until ready to serve.
8. When ready to serve, stir in crushed roasted Makhanas. 
9. Before serving topped with some nylon sev (optional), some jalapeno crisps, pomegranate arils and peanuts.

“For pleasure has no relish unless we share it.” 

― Virginia Woolf, The Common Reader

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