Pav Bhaji Recipe was mainly originated for Textile Mill workers in Mumbai. The mill workers had very less time to eat, so the basic philosophy is to be maintained. Once the pav is added, the dish automatically starts belonging to Mumbai because the pav culture was left behind in Mumbai by Portuguese.
The bread is called “Pav” in Portuguese. Britishers then took it forward and bread became a constant. So the pav culture is typically belongs Mumbai, and the fast moving life here that fits perfectly, you don’t have to get your hands dirty and also enjoy the taste as well.
In fact if you see most of the food in Mumbai is made in a way that, we have kept pav so our hands won’t get dirty. To save our hands from vada we made vada pav, to save our hands from bhaji we made pav bhaji recipe.
So the pav has become carrier so one does not dirty their hands, and this is because people here used to work in cotton factories, where they cannot afford to work with dirty hands. So one can eat this properly, and your hands also stay clean and the work goes on.
Let’s head to the delicious pav bhaji recipe :
Pav Bhaji Recipe
Ingredients – Pav Bhaji Recipe
- 1 medium sized cauliflower
- 3 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
- 1/2 inch grated ginger
- Water as required
- 1/3 cup green peas
- 2 tbsp butter
- Salt to taste
- 1 carrot ( peeled and roughly chopped)
- 5 medium potatoes (cubed)
- 1/2 roughly chopped beetroot (optional for colour)
- 1 capsicum roughly chopped
- 1 cup onion (finely chopped)
- 2 cup tomatoes (finely chopped)
- 3 green chillies (finely chopped)
- 3 tbsp butter for tempering
- 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/4 cup fresh tomato puree
- 1 medium capsicum (finely chopped) for tempering
- 2 tbsp Pav Bhaji Masala
- 1 tbsp degi red chilli powder
Ingredients For Garnish
- 1 cube butter
- chopped coriander leaves
- lemon wedge (optional)
- 1 tsp lime juice
Instructions – Pav Bhaji Recipe
- In a large pressure cooker add 1 roughly chopped capsicum, cauliflower, roughly chopped beetroot, ginger, garlic, potato, carrot, green peas, salt to taste, water as required, 2 cubes butter.
- Cover and cook the vegetables until soft.
- After the vegetables cooked, mash everything properly with a masher or large wooden spoon and set aside.
- In a large pan heat oil, butter then add onion and saute until onions turns translucent.
- Now, add ginger garlic paste, chopped tomatoes, green chillies, salt and saute until they are soft.
- Add fresh tomato puree and continue cooking for 5 minutes.
- Add capsicum and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Once done remove 2 -3 tbsp masala aside for further use.
- Now, add butter, 1 tbsp pav bhaji masala, salt to taste, degi red chilli powder and saute for 1 minute.
- Add boiled mashed vegetables, 1 tbsp pav bhaji masala, 3 tbsp butter, water as required and continue cooking for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Finish the pav bhaji with fresh coriander leaves,and turn off the heat.
- Transfer in a serving bowl and garnish with butter, coriander leaves, lime juice and lemon wedge.
- Serve hot with toasted pav, onion rings.
Instructions For Toasting Pav
- In a hot pan or tawa, add butter and prepared masala that was kept aside then coat the pav inside out properly and then toast it aside for further use.
Tips :
- For any pav bhaji recipe, I feel the minimum three vegetables that should go in are capsicum, potato, and cauliflower. Later you can add others for the color like carrots, peas, beetroot.
- I used homemade pav bhaji masala spice mix, you can use any of your choice. Add salt less as pav bhaji masala already contains some amount of salt.
- In any pav bhaji recipe use a generous amount of butter because pav bhaji is about three things butter, bhaji and pav.
- While boiling the vegetable the water should not be too much, only enough to cover the vegetables.
