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It doesn’t come as a surprise to us today when Mumbaikars pair all kinds of curries and gravies with pav. Literally meaning "quarter" in Hindi, pav is an essential component of breakfast and snack meals in the state. While vada pav and pav bhaji are the two most commonly heard pav combinations, misal pav is a classic too.
Savoured for breakfast across the region, misal pav is a hearty amalgamation of hot, tangy, and spicy flavours. For the unfamiliar, misal is a healthy gravy made with moth beans and sprouts cooked in tomatoes and onions. It also consists of curd, potatoes, and several other vegetables at times. The smooth and nutritious base with a crunchy topping is a delectable dish to be accompanied with soft pav buns. Misal is topped with a variety of condiments, such as chivda, farsan, onion, lemon, and coriander.
The word "misal" literally means a mixture of everything, and it is said that the earliest mention of the term can be found in a 20th-century text. Legend has it that it was the daily wage workers in Nasik who needed a filling meal to keep up their energy levels until dinner when they returned from work. In order to survive the day, two eateries named Bhagwantrao and Kamla Vijay in Nasik started preparing misal, a combination of all things healthy and tasty.
While the workers got bhakri, a type of flatbread made with jowar or bajra, it was insufficient for savouring the misal. So they ended up eating pav with it instead. The pav properly soaked the gravy and allowed the workers to relish the food to the core. Today, a wide range of misals are produced in various parts of Maharashtra. Each misal is prefixed with its place of origin, including Puneri misal, Khandeshi misal, Kolhapuri misal, and Nagpuri misal.
Each of them varies in terms of spice level, ranging from mildly spicy to fiery hot. Even the ingredients used in its preparation vary depending on region, such as the Puneri style misal, which is garnished with sev and chiwda, while the Nagpuri variety is garnished with grated coconut. However, despite all the differences, the core of this Maharashtrian breakfast dish remains the same.
