PavBhaji, is a popular street food of India, specially iconic of Mumbai/ Bombay. Its a simple yet delicious vegetarian dish, with many dimensions and textures, made with about 7-8 variety of vegetables like potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, beans, peas, onions, bell peppers, celery, tomatoes, jalapenos and cilantro. This Bhaji as it’s called, is paired and served with buttered Pav or sweet bread rolls and garnished with raw onion, green chilies, cilantro and a dash of lime.
Ingredients:
- Potatoes, peeled & cubed-3 or 4
- Carrots, cubed -2
- Cabbage, chopped – 1 cup
- Cauliflower, florets – 1 cup
- Green Beans- roughly chopped -1cup
- Peas- ½ cup
- Ginger paste-1 tsp
- Garlic Paste- 1 tsp
- Onions, finely chopped- 2
- Bell pepper, chopped -1
- Tomatoes, chopped- 2
- Jalapenos or green chillies-2 or 3
- Celery –chopped -1/2 cup
- Turmeric 1 tsp
- Red chili pepper powder – 1.5 or 2 tsp
- Pav Bhaji Masala -2 tblsp or to taste
- Sugar -1tsp
- Salt- to taste
- Lemon – juice of 1 lemon
- Butter- 1 tblsp
- Cilantro – to garnish
- Oil
- Pav / Sweet bread rolls, buttered & toasted ( I prefer Kings Hawaiian sweet rolls)
Method:
The ‘bhaji’ can be made with any variety or combinations of vegetables with a base ingredient combination of potatoes and carrots. Other vegetables like sweet potatoes or beets are often added. If using beets, it can bleed and turn the dish pink or red.
Prep the vegetables to be pressure cooked. Peel and cube potatoes, separate the cauliflower florets, clean and cube carrots, chop cabbage and beans, and set aside the peas.
Add all these vegetables to the ‘Instapot’ or Pressure Cooker with 2 cups of water for 12 minutes. After it’s cooked, strain out the water from the vegetables and set aside the stock separate for later use. Mash all the cooked vegetables using a masher.
In a thick bottomed, wide pan, warm some oil and add the onions and ginger garlic paste. Sauté them for few minutes and follow it up with the crunchy textured vegetables like bell pepper, celery, jalapenos, to the pan.
Next, add the tomatoes and the spices- turmeric, red chilli powder, Pav Bhaji masala, salt and sugar. Sauté and combine all the flavors by stirring it around.
At this point, add the mashed vegetables to the pan with the vegetable stock, earlier set aside. Combine all the textures of crunchy and mashed vegetables together and let it cook together on low flame for some time while stirring it regularly.
When a good consistency of bhaji is formed, and the gravy thickened, squeeze in the lemon juice. Top it with a dollop of butter to melt into the dish for the delicious buttered flavor. Garnish with cilantro and some finely chopped onions and green chilies.
Butter the Hawaiian sweet bread rolls or Pav and lightly toast them in the oven and serve with the bhaji. This dish is best eaten nice and warm. Enjoy.
