Pav bhaji is a popular Indian street food, consisting of a spiced mixture of mashed vegetables in a thick gravy, usually cooked on a flat griddle tava served hot with a Pav, a soft white bread. Its origins are in the state of Maharashtra. This dish become so popular that now it is served as a street food as well as in restaurants in mumbai and all over in india.
This Maharashtrian recipe prepared with veggies and spices, served with generous amount of butter topped along with some fresh chopped onions and lemon juice. This main course recipe is made with ingredients like mashed potatoes, blanched peas, cauliflower, green beans, onion and tomatoes along with garlic and ginger paste.
In restaurants or in the streets, the bhaji is prepared on a large flat tawa (griddle), but at home you can make it in a frying pan as well.All you need to do is simply stir fry the vegetables and add spices in the appropriate proportions. Once the bhaji is cooked, it is necessary to grind the vegetables and garnish the gravy with finely chopped coriander leaves.
Pav bhaji has a bright red orange color. When you make pav bhaji at home, you won’t get the color that you normally see in hotels and restaurants. Some vendors also add artificial red color. As far as possible avoid the use of artificial food colors and use natural colors instead. So to get the red color in pav bhaji, use kashmiri red chilli powder or deghi mirch. In addition, you can give your own fusion twist to this delicious vegetarian recipe by garnishing it with some grated cheese and sprinkle some red chilli flakes. Many people garnish Pav Bhaji with chopped onions and green chilies. Do not forget to add the lemon juice before serving your bhaji with buttered buns.You can make this amazing dish by using your own twist of ingredients. We are sure your guests will love this easy recipe! If you have a family get together, you can serve these sweet delights to end your meal with a sweet treat: Besan ladoo, balushahi, rasgulla or shahi tukda etc.
Pav Bhaji
Print RecipeIngredients
- 4 medium potato boiled and mashed
- 2 medium onion chopped
- 1/2 cup cauliflower chopped
- 1 cup peas shelled
- 3 tbsp. refined oil
- Salt to taste
- 8 Pav
- 2 tsp. garlic paste
- 1/4 cup green beans
- 4 medium tomato chopped
- 1 capsicum ( green pepper) chopped
- 1/4 cup carrot chopped
- 1/2 tbsp. ginger paste
- 2 green chilli chopped
- 25 gm butter melted
- 1 medium lemon wedges
- 2 teaspoon pav bhaji masala
- For Garnishing - 3 to 4 tbsp. coriander leaves chopped
Instructions
The Making of Bhaji
- Rinse, peel and chop the veggies such as peas, cauliflower florets, carrots and beans. you can also add veggies of your choice.
- Add all the above veggies with a little water in the pressure cooker for 5 to 6 whistles or for about 12 minutes on medium flame. The vegetables have to be cooked completely. Drain and mash coarsely.
- Heat oil in a pan and add three fourth quantity of chopped onions. saute on a low to medium flame till the onions translucent. Then add green chillies and ginger-garlic paste. Mix and saute till the raw aroma of both ginger and garlic goes away and then add pav bhaji masala along with chopped capsicum, and stir fry for a minute.
- Ensure that you have finely chopped the tomatoes. If they have tough skin, chop them after removing the skin or grate them.
- Add tomatoes, salt and cook on medium heat for three to four minutes, stirring continuously or till oil separates from the masala.
- Add mashed peas, cauliflower, potatoes and 2 cups of water. Bring it to a boil and simmer for ten minutes, pressing with back of the spoon a few times, till all the vegetables are completely mashed and blended together.
Roast the pav
- Heat half of the butter in a thick-bottomed pan or a tawa.
- Slice pav horizontally into two and pan fry in butter for half a minute, pressing two or three times or till pav is crisp and light brown.
For garnish
- Garnish the bhaji with chopped coriander leaves, remaining butter and serve hot with pav accompanied with remaining chopped onion and lemon wedges.
- You can add finely chopped green chillies to the bhaji to make it spicier.
- You can also add an extra teaspoon of red chilli powder while cooking the bhaji for that extra colour or spice.
Note-
- Pav bhaji can be had as a meal during lunch or dinner. You could also have it as an evening snack.
- Use good quality pav bhaji masala or make it at home.