Pav Bhaji is the quintessential street food of Mumbai and across India and now a famous one dish meal of Indians across the globe. The name pav bhaji literally means bread and vegetables. Pav or pao is the word for a type of bun bread and is easily available at most bakeries. The pav can also be substituted with basic dinner rolls. The common vegetables used in making the bhaji are cauliflower, potatoes, brinjal or eggplant, carrots, peas, bell peppers or capsicum, cabbage, onions and tomatoes. Some people use mushrooms and the Jains do not use onions or garlic. It is simply a versatile dish and the veggies used can be more or less according to individual tastes and palates. You can enjoy this famous street food from India now at home.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Clean and chop vegetables (potatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, eggplant, bell pepper) into small pieces. Put them in a pressure cooker with 1/2 cup water, a little salt and pressure cook for about 3 to 4 whistles. Cool cooker completely before opening.
- Chop onions very fine. Make a paste/puree of the tomatoes.
- Heat oil/butter in a large pan and fry the onions until they turn golden brown. Add a little ginger-garlic paste if needed. Add in 3 heaped tbsp of pav bhaji masala and fry for a few minutes. Then add in the tomato puree and fry until it turns into a fine paste about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the cooked, mashed vegetables and further mash until all the spices and vegetables are blended well.
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Toast the buns or pavs on a frying pan adding butter until golden on both sides.
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Garnish bhaji with chopped cilantro and serve with chopped onions.tomatoes and lemon wedges and the pav. If you like, you may serve the warm bhaji with a blob of butter on top. Relish :)
Notes
The bhaji has a fiery red colour - to get this without using artificial colourings, simply use deghi mirch or Kashmiri red chilli powder.
There are many variations of pav bhaji.
Jain Pav Bhaji - no root vegetables, but plantains are used instead of potatoes
Cheese Pav Bhaji - popular among children where the bhaji is topped with shredded cheese
Khada Pav Bhaji - the vegetables instead of being mashed are kept a little chunky
Paneer Pav Bhaji - grated paneer is added to the vegetable mix
Pav Bhaji Dosa - a fusion of the immensely popular dosa with the street food where the dosas are topped with pav bhaji masala