Dabeli Sukha is the driest reading of the dabeli, taking the reduced-chutney idea to its limit: minimal wet chutney, with extra sev and extra peanuts doing most of the work. Sukha means dry, and the name is literal. Where other versions rely on sauce to bind and sweeten, this one is built almost entirely around the spiced potato and a heavy crust of crunchy toppings, making it the most snack-like and least messy member of the family.
The build strips moisture out at every stage. The potato is mashed and seasoned hard with the sweet-spicy dabeli masala, kept firm rather than slack. The pav may get the barest trace of chutney or, in the strictest versions, almost none at all, relying on the masala itself for flavor. The cut faces are then pressed into a thick layer of fine sev and roasted peanuts, far more than the standard build uses, and griddled briefly in butter. Good sukha makes the toppings the event: the potato has to be punchily spiced to stand on its own, the sev must be fresh and audibly crisp, and the roll should hold its shape without a wet center. Sloppy versions simply taste like an under-sauced dabeli, with bland potato and nothing to make up for the missing chutneys, which exposes weak masala immediately.
The distinction from the merely dry version is one of degree: sukha commits fully to minimal wet chutney where the dry style just uses less. Both descend from the standard dabeli. Vendors who handle sukha well lean on a slightly coarser, peanut-heavy masala and a longer griddle for a crisper crust to compensate for the absent moisture. The fine gram-flour sev that defines the texture here is a preparation worth understanding on its own and deserves its own article rather than being crowded in here. Sukha is dabeli reduced to its dry essentials, and it lives or dies on the quality of its spice.