Sev Usalસેવ ઉસળ
Sev usal is Vadodara's signature street food: a fiery curry of white peas topped with a mountain of sev, raw onion, chutneys and lemon, served with pav. It is spicy, filling and unmistakably Baroda.
Ingredients
Tap an ingredient to tick it off while you shop or measure.
- 1 cup dried white peas, soaked overnight
- 2 onions, 2 tomatoes
- 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
- 2 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp coriander-cumin powder, ½ tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp jaggery, salt
- Oil, mustard seeds, cumin, asafoetida, curry leaves
- To serve: thick sev, chopped onion, green and date chutney, lemon, pav
Method
- Pressure cook the soaked peas with salt for 4-5 whistles.
- Temper oil with mustard seeds, cumin, asafoetida and curry leaves, then fry the onion until golden.
- Add ginger-garlic and tomatoes and cook until the oil separates.
- Stir in the spices, jaggery and the cooked peas with their water, and simmer 10-12 minutes. Keep the curry thin.
- Ladle into bowls and top with sev, onion, both chutneys and lemon.
- Serve immediately with warm pav.
Tips
- Soaking overnight is not optional; dried peas will not soften otherwise.
- Add the sev only at the table.
- For true Baroda heat, use a mix of Kashmiri chilli for colour and hot chilli for bite.
Storing and reheating
The curry keeps three days in the fridge and the masala settles in nicely by the next day. The peas drink up liquid as it cools, so add hot water and bring it back to a boil. Never store it with the sev, onion, chutney and lemon mixed in; the sev goes soggy and ruins the whole thing. The curry freezes for a month.
What you can swap
- No dried white peas? Dried green peas or chickpeas work. Chickpeas need two extra whistles and make a heavier curry.
- Sugar can replace jaggery, though you lose the deeper sweetness. Keep it light either way: in Vadodara-style sev usal the sweetness is only a hint.
- No thick sev? Ratlami or fine sev will do, but fine sev wilts fast, so add it at the table.
- Without pav, bread slices toasted in butter, or even bhakhri, will carry it.
What to serve with it
This is Vadodara's signature dish, sold there from breakfast until late at night. Hot pav, a mound of sev, raw onion, both chutneys and lemon, with chhaas alongside if the heat gets much. It is now common in Ahmedabad and Surat too.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not let the curry get thick. It should be loose enough to dip pav into; a thick curry changes how the dish is eaten.
- Do not throw away the water the peas cooked in. Use it in the curry, it carries both flavour and body.
- Do not undercook the tomatoes. Cook them until the oil separates or the curry tastes rawly sour.
- Do not stir the chutneys into the curry. They go on top, so each mouthful tastes hot, sweet and sour separately. That contrast is the dish.
Questions people ask
My peas stay hard even after pressure cooking. Why?
Either the peas are old or they were not soaked long enough. Soak eight to ten hours and add a pinch of baking soda to the soaking water. Salt while cooking is fine, but keep tamarind and tomato out of the cooker; acid keeps the skins tough.
What is the difference between sev usal and misal pav?
Sev usal is Gujarati: dried white peas, a touch of jaggery, thick sev and date chutney. Misal is Maharashtrian: sprouted moth beans, goda masala, farsan and a film of red oil on top. Both are eaten the same way, with pav.
How do I cool the heat down?
Date chutney and curd both take the edge off immediately. To make it milder from the start, use 1½ of the 2 tsp chilli as Kashmiri chilli so the colour stays the same.
