“Pav Bhaji” … bas nam hi kafi hey, Mumbaikars famous street food, that really does not need any introduction … a scrumptious fast food dish consisting of assorted vegetable prepared into a thick mushy curry served with the ever famous soft delicious ladi pav (sort of a bread roll) another common food item of Mumbai served with various combinations … Yummilicious ….
** Pav Bhaji always reminds me of Mumbai Chowpatty beach which is where I first relished it decades back and the taste of which still lingers on. Pav bhaji is a worldwide famous dish originated from Mumbai prepared with a assorted veggies cooked mushy and there by spiced with a specific masala powder etc. Topped with butter and served with soft ladi pav this is simply a lip-smacking dish no one can say no to. Though available in every restaurant or nook and corner of Mumbai, it’s the streets that are famous for it and almost everyone who loves it has atleast tasted it once in their lifetime and will vouch for the same.
** As my hubby always prefers home cooked dishes, I always prepare his favorite Pav Bhaji many times round the year, yet it was surprisingly brought to notice by a person who recently mailed me saying how come there was no authentic pav bhaji recipe in blog. On checking, indeed I found that while I had shared a few other versions, the traditional good old, normal pav bhaji served in every street corner was not done and this made me realize that I needed to check out my diaries once again, go through them, prepare and share all my old lovely dishes which somehow over 6 years of blogging have escaped documenting.
** Thanks to Nirmalji for her mail, otherwise I would not have noticed the same. And each time I prepared this lovely dish, would have just relished it without clicking pictures without a further thought of blogging. Though the recipe is the same as that which I posted with inclusion of methi (fenugreek) leaves, I am sharing it here again, so that it becomes easier for followers to note down and try it out, trust me this one is indeed a fool proof and delicious recipe. Do try it out and enjoy with your family and friends with Pav, and don’t forget that dollop of butter it definitely needs to be added for the authentic aromatic delicious taste.
** Here is my recipe for “Pav Bhaji” the world famous Mumbaikars street food … enjoy it served hot topped with butter, served along with some finely sliced/ chopped onions and a wedge of lemon … and yes, remember it tastes best with fresh ladi pav (soft bread roll) …..
** Peel and chop finely 3-4 large sized onions (kanda/ piyavu) and keep it aside ready.
** Wash and then chop finely about 200 gms of fresh cauliflower (phool gobi). Keep it aside ready.
** Wash, chop finely about 2 large sized capsicums (donne mirsanga/ simla mirchi) and keep it aside ready.
** Wash, chop to pieces about 5-6 large sized tomatoes and keep it aside ready.
** Shell, wash, drain and keep aside ready about 2 cups of fresh green peas (vatana).
** Peel outer skin of 3-4 large sized potatoes (aloo/ batata), cut to small pieces and wash in plenty of water. Keep this aside ready soaked in water to avoid being browned.
** Peel the outer skin and chop finely about 10-12 garlic cloves (losun/ lehsun).
** Peel the outer skin and chop finely about 1/2 inch of ginger (adrak/ alle').
** In a pressure cooker pan first add spread in a layer the cut potatoes, top it with peas in a layer, followed topped with cauliflower, capsicums and lastly with tomatoes.
** Add 2 cups of water and pressure cook on medium heat till 3-4 whistles. Let the pressure drop on its own, open and allow cooling for about 15 minutes.
** Tilt the cooker and drain the cooked water into a vessel and keep it aside. Now with a potato masher, mash all cooked veggies together till they are mushy.
** In a mixer grinder add in garlic, garlic along with 1 tblsp of Kashmiri red chilly powder and 1 tblsp of any branded pav bhaji masala powder and grind to coarse mixture.
** In a large kadai, add in 3-4 tblsp of oil (tel/ tela), when hot add in the finely chopped onion, with a pinch of salt (namak/ meeta) and fry till translucent/ pinkish in color.
** Add in the ground garlic- powder mixture and continue frying on medium heat, until well done and you get a good aroma, say around 5-7 minutes.
** Now add in cooked and mashed veggies, salt (namak/ meeta) to taste, 2-3 tblsp of pav bhaji masala powder, 3-4 tblsp of kashmiri red chilly powder and mix well.
** Add in cooked water kept aside earlier to the mixture in kadai, mix well and cook on medium to low heat stirring often till evenly well mashed and cooked well.
** When you see bubbles appearing on the surface of the bhaji, lower the heat to minimum and simmer for about 5-10 minutes stirring often, keep mashing well with the masher.
** Lastly add in ½ cup of finely chopped coriander leaves (dhania/ kothambari pallo) that’s cleaned and washed along with 2-3 tblsp of loni (butter) and mix well.
** Continue simmering for another 5-10 minutes adding in some more water if necessary only. This is a thick consistency bhaji, so add water accordingly.
** “Pav Bhaji” is done and ready to be served. Serve hot topped with a dollop of Butter (loni) along with some finely chopped onion and a piece of lemon wedge. This bhaji is usually served with soft ladi Pav a famous daily bread from Mumbai.
** The pav is tava/ pan fried with butter after slicing it in between and then served along with the bhaji. Pav, though is famous in Mumbai, is now available in most of the metro cities. In case it is not available in your vicinity, you can serve this with any bread slices.
** You can check out the picture of pav bhaji posted for the pav which is how Mumbai pav looks like. This is baked fresh and is available in almost all grocery shops throughout Mumbai and is served as misal pav, vada pav, usal pav, egg pav etc. etc. etc.
** Note : Sometimes the tomatoes are not sour enough and do not impart right desired taste of tartness to dishes (my observation being a tamarind taste addict). In that case you can always add in tsp or so of amchur (dried mango) powder to the bhaji to bring in taste.
** Note : Always increase or decrease spice level of the curry depending upon individual/ family preferences. This applies to addition of Pav Bhaji Masala Powder too. I have used easily available locally made masala powder, you can use any.
** Note : I always add a small amount of chilly powder and masala powders into the oil initially, you can leave it out if not desired. However, if done so you will get a better taste and aroma along with a lovely color to the dish, that is the very reason why I have ground them with garlic and add to the pav bhaji in this recipe.
** Note : Always add a little bit of salt while frying onions in oil be it to any dishes. This helps the onions to release water from within and fry out faster and crispier. I learned of this tip from world famous Chef. Sanjeev Kapoor in TV show about 3 decades back.
** Sharing a common link to “Pav Bhaji” dishes posted earlier in the Blog. They have some step by step pictures, which may be helpful if you are newbie, do browse through and try them if you find that your family would love them too, they are all tasty and tried in my home ….
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