Pav bhaji recipe

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Pav bhaji recipe- Pav bhaji is a combination of a spicy curry of mixed vegetables cooked in a special blend of spices and loads of butter called ‘bhaji’, and it is served ‘Pav ‘ which are small white buns, shallow fried in butter.

Pav bhaji is one of my favourite indian street foods. As the name suggests “Pav Bhaji” is a combination of pav and bhaji.” Bhaji ” is a spicy curry of mixed vegetables cooked in a special blend of spices and loads of butter , and it is served “Pav ” which are small white buns, shallow fried with butter. There is a lot of butter used in this dish, but that’s what really lends a creamy smooth taste ,to the spicy vegetable curry. If for any reason you are unable to use butter, you can make variations of it at home without the use of butter, and use your preferred choice of cooking oil.

There are a number of variation of bhaji. A variety of vegetables can be added according to your preference and taste.

What i prefer to use is potatoes, green bell peppers, a small slice of bottle gourd , small carrot. I do sometimes add peas as well. Pav Bhaji is authentically a blend of potatoes and bell peppers, adding carrot/ bottle gourd/ peas is optional.

You always have a choice of adding other veggies of your choice to make it healthier. Make sure to always keep the qty of potatoes and bell peppers more compared to other veggies, to maintain the smooth creamy texture, taste and consistency of the bhaji.

Preparing Vegetables to cook bhaji-

To start with roughly cut all the vegetables, including potatoes . Add these to a pressure cooker with few garlic cloves, a little salt, turmeric and little water . Pressure cook for 1-2 whistles, and take these off heat.

If you do not have a pressure cooker, you can cut the vegetables and boil these with little water, in a covered pan for 10 minutes , or till all veggies are tender and cooked.Keep these aside to cool.

Once cooled, using a masher, mash all the veggies till these form a rough paste kind of texture.

Vegetables should be mashed good enough that you cannot make out what veggies are in there, but make sure not to make a very fine paste out of it. Once done, keep aside.

Preparing Tempering

Now that the veggies are ready ,let’s get started with the tempering.The main ingredients for tempering are onions, tomatoes, green chillies, ginger/ garlic paste.The ratio of tomatoes is more than the onions, as pav bhaji is supposed to be tangy, and tomatoes add that nice acidic tang to this.

Heat butter in a pan, add a pinch of asafoetida powder. Add ginger garlic paste. Cook for 2-3 minutes till the raw aroma goes away.

Add chopped onions and cook for a few minutes till these turn translucent.Make puree of whole tomatoes in a grinder, and add this puree to the tempering.

Cook till the tomatoes are nicely cooked, and start leaving butter on the sides.Add chopped green chillies.

Add a little salt, red chilli powder, deghi mirchi powder, coriander powder, Pav bhaji masala. “Pav bhaji” masala is easily available in the Asian stores, or even at amazon.

You can find it in my amazon recommendations list, in my sidebar .

Mix together all the masalas, in the tempering. Add the mashed veggies. Use a masher to mix together the veggies with the tempering.

Check the consistency. It should be a little runny, and not too thick. If required add water at this stage to adjust consistency.

Cover and let it cook for another 10 minutes.Once done check and adjust the seasoning. Add finely chopped coriander.

Preparing Pav and serving Pav bhaji

This bhaji is served with pav, or small white buns, which in india are easily available as “Pav”, and here in UK i usually get white bread buns from any bakery.

To prepare the buns, heat a spoon of butter/ ghee or any oil of your preference. Add a little chopped coriander in butter, a sprinkle of pav bhaji masala, and heat the buns in this butter on both the sides.

That’s how these are usually served, or you can simply warm both sides of the buns in plain butter.I used the latter option today.

While serving ,sprinkle chopped onions, fresh chopped coriander, chopped green chillies, a little butter and a dash of fresh lime juice on the hot bhaji, and serve with warm and crusty buttered pav.

If you try this recipe, please rate it by clicking the stars below. And don’t forget to like , share the recipe and tag us on Instagram or Facebook using #frombowltosoul if you like the recipe.Please Comment below for any queries, suggestions and ideas .I would love to hear from you.

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