Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji - a quintessential street food delicacy of the Mumbai City, was invented to feed the mill workers. The food that is custom made so that it is easy to prepare, affordable  & nutritious too as it has got all vegetables. An excellent dish to satisfy the hunger quickly.

Its raining here heavily as monsoon has started. Thought of having hot Bhaji and Pav. So made it for dinner of the day.

Recipe Video is in "Mira's Akshaya Patram"

For the Bombay Pav Bhaji, same method, except that finely chopped green capsicum is fried and added to the Bhaji.

(Serves 5 to 6 people)

Ingredients :

1. Pav bread - 10 to 12  pieces
2. Onion - 2 nos. (Big) (Finely chopped. Reserve some for garnishing )
3. Coriander Leaves - chopped 3 tbsp
4. Potato - 6 Nos. (medium)
5. Tomato - 1 No. (Big)
6. Carrot - 1 small (optional)
7. Green Peas - 1/4 cup (optional)
8. Beetroot - 1/4 (For natural color) - Optional
9. Ginger - 1" piece - Grated
10. Garlic - 3 cloves (Big). If small, take 6-8 cloves - Grated
11. Wedges of 1 Lemon
12. salt to taste
13. Pav baji masala - 1/4 tsp (or as required as per flavour preference)
14. Red Chilli Powder as per taste (use Deggi mirch / Tika lal  powder for rich color)
15. Oil - 1 tbsp
16. butter - 5 tbsp for the gravy and reserve some butter for roasting the pav bread.
17. Water as needed.

 Procedure :- 

• Boil, Peel & mash Potatoes.  If you are adding carrots and green peas, Beetroot, then boil them together.

• Grind the Beetroot in a mixer. Mash the potatoes, carrots and green peas. 

•  Chop onions finely. Keep some for garnishing (say 1/2 cup)

• Puree the Tomato or Grate it. This will make the tomato color flavour, color and taste get infused into the gravy.

•  Finely chop coriander leaves. Reserve some for garnishing.

•  Grate ginger and garlic (or you can even grind to paste) or crush nicely with a pestle (i do it sometimes).

•  Heat oil and butter in a pan (mixing oil with butter will prevent butter getting burnt smell). Keep the flame in Medium and add the chopped onions and saute till golden brown.

• Add the ginger garlic paste and stir fry till the raw smell goes or when it turns golden in color. 

• Add grated / pureed tomato and cook till oil separates. The tomato will get a nice light orange color. Add the Turmeric Powder, Pav Bhaji Masala, Red Chilli Powder and mix well.

• Add boiled & mashed veggies (Potato, carrot, green peas) and required water little by little, stirring in between to check the consistency. Bring it to boil. Since Potato has starch, you may have add some more water. so keep checking the consistency.

• Cook for 4 minutes in low flame or till the mixture becomes semi solid.  Bhaji is Ready!

Preparing the Pav :-

There are 2 different methods of pav making. One the ordinary method. The other, we will be adding little masala while roasting the pav. This I learnt from a street food vendor here. It taste different and good.

• First Method : Heat a tawa, apply some butter and place the pav bread on it. You can have soft as well as crispy pavs. For soft pavs, just place both sides on the greased tawa only for a minute. For crispy pavs, just reduce the flame and cook both sides for a little long time, till it turns kadak (crisp).
• Second Method :- Melt little butter, add chopped coriander leaves, a pinch of pav bhaji masala and a pinch of deggi mirch powder, mix well. Pour little of this mix on the hot tawa and place the pav buns. You can roast them on low flame to make them more crispy.

Serving Suggestion : 

Place the hot pavs on a plate. Pour the bhaji on the side. sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and finely chopped raw onions over it. Place a lemon wedge on the side which can be squeezed over the baji while eating as per the taste preference. 

Variation : Can add finely chopped, boiled and mashed Capsicum, Beet root.  If you add beetroot, it will get a rich pinkish red color as seen in the photo below

Enjoy!!!