Mumbai’s own Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji – Popular snack from the streets of Mumbai. A mish –mash of vegetables cooked in tomato based gravy with spices served with buttered bread called pav. Infact you will never find a Mumbaikar who doesn’t like pav bhaji. It’s soo tasty, how can you not love it ?

This is the only chat food that Manoj likes other than Samosa chaat. This dish can be had as a evening snack or dinner. I prefer to serve this as a dinner because it’s more or less a meal in itself. Super easy to cook and people of all age group can relish it.

Why I love this dish is, simple to make, loaded with veggies and apt for lazy weekends.

It can be made with basic veggies that wil be easily available in our kitchen like onions, potatoes, tomatoes, peas etc. I used sweet potato to make it more healthy. We can also add carrots, cauliflower, capsicum for this bhaji. Pav bhaji masala is easily available in all the super markets. I use Everest or MTR Pav baji masala. I always prefer to spend less time in kitchen so I buy the ready pav bhaji masala.

 If it is not available you can make it at home. 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp coriander powder,1 tsp dry mango powder or amchur and ½ tsp turmeric powder.

Method

First boil the veggies  in a pressure cooker  for 1 or 2 whistles. After it releases the pressure open the cooker and mash the vegetables well. Keep them aside.

Heat a frying pan and add 1 tbsp of butter and oil.  When the oil is hot add chopped onions  and fry them until translucent. Add ginger garlic paste and chopped green chilli and fry until it smells good.

Add chopped tomatoes and mix well. Let it cook till it turns pulpy and mushy.

Add pav bhaji masala, turmeric powder,red chilli powder and salt. I added half tsp of sugar and Kashmiri chilli powder to enhance the taste and color.. Fry well  for 2 -3 minutes.

Then add mashed boiled vegetables and mix. Add ¾ - 1 cup of water.

Mix well and simmer for a while to bring out the flavour of masala.

Add 3/4tbsp of kasuri methi.

When it reaches the desired consistency that is semi thick gravy add generous amount of coriander leaves. Switch off the flame and add lemon juice before serving.

For toasting the pav, slit the pav horizontally. Heat 1tsp of butter on a tawa. Place the pav on the butter and toast it for 1 – 2 minutes.

Garnish with coriander leaves and chopped onions. Top with more butter on bhaji.

Ingredients

Potatoes cubed : 2 large

Green peas : ½ cup

Cauliflower florets : ½ cup

Carrots chopped : ½ cup

Onion chopped: 1 medium

Tomatoes chopped : 2

Ginger garlic paste : 11/2 tsp

Butter : 1 tbsp

Oil : 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder : ¾  or 1 tsp(less spicy)

Turmeric powder : ¼ tsp

Pavbhaji masala powder : 1 tbsp(use more if needed)

Kasuri methi : ¾ tbsp.

Salt : to taste

To toast pav

Pav(buns or dinner rolls) : 6

Butter fot toasting : 1 tbsp

For garnishing

Onions chopped :2 tbsp

Coriander leaves : 2 tbsp

Butter : 1 tbsp

Notes

You can easily adjust the spice level to suit your taste.

Use good quality of pav bhaji masala or make it at home.

It can also be made in oil without using butter, if you prefer a more healthy version.