Pav bhaji

Pav Bhaji is a Maharashtrian fast food which became popular all over India.

Pav means “small buns “and bhaji means “vegetables”. I was not fond of pav bhaji but when I was in Beijing ….I had pav bhaji at Mrs.Panshe's place and they were mouthwatering; she is from Thane, Maharashtra place and since then I fell in love with pav bhaji's and asked her for the recipe. Now I am adding some of my own ingredients to it. In my house I always make pav bhaji's once at week. It can be eaten as a snack or as a meal. Enjoy 

Ingredients

2 medium potatoes

1 small head of cauliflower, cut into florets (about 2-3 cups)

1 medium size capsicum cut into small pieces

1 medium carrot cut into small pieces

1 cup green peas and bean (I used frozen)

1 big size onion finely chopped

1 tsp ginger, garlic paste

2-3 tomato chopped

2-3 green chilies slit in half

Salt to taste

2 tbsp butter

2 tsp oil 

1 tbsp pav bhaji masala (I used Everest pav bhaji masala, it gives nice color or more taste)

1 lemon (As needed to squeeze on top)

Pav / White bread/ buns

Onion, coriander leaves chopped for garnishing

Procedure  

Boil all veggies, pressure cook the potatoes (peel the skin of potatoes and cut them into small chunks) and other chopped veggies together with little water, up to 2  whistles in the pressure cooker.

Now heat pan or kadai with oil/ butter (here I used little butter & oil). Add chopped onions, sauté for 2 minutes then add ginger garlic paste.

 Sauté those until the onion turns transparent and the raw smell of the ginger garlic paste leaves.

Then add the tomatoes, salt (here I used a little tomato puree for color) and pav bhaji masala. I didn’t add red chili powder. If you want you can add.

Now fry until the tomatoes turn soft and mushy and add the boiled veggies. Keep the gas on simmer and mash all the veggies with a masher.

 Keep mashing the mixture until it is smooth... (You can use a ladle). Add water as required. (Here used vegetable stock)

Now simmer for 15-20 minutes to really get the flavors to meld together.

 Adjust the salt to taste, masala. Add butter if desired until you like the balance between the tomato, tang and the spice.

Bhaji is ready  now ! Serve it with chopped onions, finely chopped coriander leaves and wedges of lemon - on the side.

For the buns

Slit open the pavs from the middle. Apply butter on the inside & place them on a pre-heated frying pan. When they get golden brown from the inside take them off.

Serve hot with bhaji.