Pav Bhaji
A very popular Indian street food – mixed vegetable curry (bhaaji),eaten with pav (bread)
Growing up I had a favorite Pav bhaji-vala (vendor), who had a small joint which would always be chock-a-block full with patrons crowding all the way up to the street intersection, blocking the roads and causing traffic! Over the years, standing in line waiting to order, I observed and learnt a lot of his recipe secrets and tricks. This is a modified version, because I dare not put as much butter and red 40 in my food!
Keep in mind the more butter you add, it gets only better, but its completely up to you! Other than the butter, this recipe is completely vegan. You can easily substitute the butter with alternatives.
You will need:
For the Bhaji:
1 tsp Everest pav bhaji masala
1 tsp kanda lasun masala
1 tsp malvani masala/ Misal masala
- If you dint have all the three masalas, use a combination of two or 3 tsp of just one of the masalas
a teaspoon of shah jeera and 1/2 a star anise – freshly ground
1 tbsp kasmiri red chili powder
For the finishing touches (optional):
- 4 tbsp butter
- crushed garlic cloves – 4
- asafetida
- 1/2 tsp kasuri methi crushed
- shahi jeera – 1/2 tsp – crushed – Indian shahi jeera is dofferent than caraway seeds If you dont have it use regular cumin seeds or omit completely
- extra masalas
- chopped cilantro
For serving:
- To be served with finely chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, lime and pav.
Procedure:
- Wash the vatana (dried peas) and soak overnight. Pressure cook until completely mushy
- Heat butter and oil mixture in a large non-stick pan. Add ginger garlic paste and the ground shah jeera+star anise to it followed by the chopped capsicum and stir well.
- After the green pepper is seared and forms a white skin, add the tomatoes and salt.
- Cover the pan and let cook on low flame for about 15-20 minutes. At the end it should have left oil and look completely cooked and almost uniform in color. If using tomato paste, add about a 1/4 cup of water and the cooking time will be much lower – just a few minutes until oil starts leaving the sides.
- At this point remove lid and stir in more salt, chili powder, all the dry spice powders, and sauté until gives off a nice aroma.
- Add more Ginger garlic paste or any other spices at this point, if you feel the need.
- Finally add the mashed green peas and potatoes and add about 1 1/2 cup of water and let is cook on low-medium flame for about 15-20 minutes.
- Add some extra butter on top and adjust salt and spices as needed. Mash it in the pan with a potato masher to make it homogenous.
- You can make this bhaji and freeze it for up to a couple of months
- Whether fresh or frozen, before serving, heat it and add the finishing touches
For the finishing touch – optional, you can spice it up some more before serving:
- Take some butter in a fry pan and add crushed garlic, asafetida, pav bhaji masala, crushed shahi jeera, kasuri methi powder and chopped cilantro, let sizzle and add to the bhaji.
Serving Instructions:
- Serve piping hot topped with a cube of butter and with some chopped red onion, cilanto and lime on the side to go with fresh pav , soaking in butter. Other than Pav, my favorite bread to eat pav bhaji with is ciabatta – toasted with butter of course!
