Recipe for Pav Bhaji & Everything that comes with it
Recipe for Pav Bhaji & Everything that comes with it
PAV BHAJI for us Mumbaikars is an absolute emotion and for my family it has some very special memories, many stories and connections.Back in the day, whenever Mum would get extremely tired with work and just felt like having something else from the usual, it was always Pav Bhaji or Chinese. In those years, although there were some restaurants around our place, we never really went to the fancy ones. Most of our excitement of “eating out” involved Street Food. Those years were not like how it is now with the number of Multi-Cuisine fancy restaurants present at every corner of the street. We found Joy in the simple things of life, going to a kebab corner at Crawford market, Chinese food at the cart near the Dabul church, Mewaad Ice-cream outside Vijaywadi, Pani Puri next to the Elephant garden, Vada Pav at the Tadwadi naka and the delicious popular Pav Bhaji at Gazdar street naka.Where we lived earlier, in our lane, there was a person who used to own a Pav Bhaji cart(which by the way we never knew the whereabouts of)and he had rented out a place/kitchen next to our building where all his helpers would get together and begin their day by boiling many kgs of Potatoes, Veggies and Rice. The art they had of chopping sacks of Onions at such great speed could put any machine to shame.We have had Pav Bhaji at restaurants as well as at the carts and our most favourite Pav Bhaji used to be at Girgaum Chowpatty(since it was closer to home) and Juhu Chowpatty(whenever we used to go to visit Dad at his workplace in Sun n Sand Hotel…I know I know…leaving Sun n Sand and going to Chowpatty??? You may think….haha)that’s how much we love our street food.My Love for Pav Bhaji comes from my Mum. Till date, that stands as her only favourite Vegetarian dish. Even now, on days she doesn’t like to cook, she will always say “I’ll have Pav Bhaji” (Even as I am writing this article I just got to know that my Mum has ordered Pav Bhaji hahaha)I did my entire schooling at St. Anne’s Fort – Colaba. On the last day of our exams, all our friends would get some extra pocket money and we would all go to Sarkari Bhandar and enjoy their Deee-li-shassss Pav Bhaji with extra Pav!When making Pav Bhaji at home, the flavours and techniques are quite different, but emotion toh same to same hai Boss! And when making it in another country, that’s what takes it to the next level 😊My Mumma used to make Pav Bhaji quite often for my dabba too….Pav Bhaji se bohot lagav and pyaar hai boss …I’m not even kidding haha!Here’s how I make Pav Bhaji. Do give it a try. I’m sureyou’ll love it. I've also shared the recipes of everything that comes along with the Pav Bhaji - It's like a Full Gang 🙂
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Pav Bhaji
- 2 Large Potatoes
- 1/2 cup Green Peas
- 3 Large Rich Red Ripe Plump Tomatoes(very important as the Pav Bhaji gets it's Red colour from this) - diced
- 2 Medium sized Onions - chopped fine
- 3-4 green chillies - chopped fine
- 1 small Green Capsicum - chopped fine
- Juice of 2 Medium Sized Lemons
- 2 Tspn Kashmiri Chilly Powder(if you can get Everest Kashmiri Lal it's the best I've used so far, especially for the rich red colour. This is where Pav Bhaji gets it's next deep Red colour from )
- 2-3 Tbspn Pav Bhaji Masala(I use Badshah Bombay Pav Bhaji Masala)
- 3 Tbspn Butter - Oh Yessss!!! pleeeeease DO NOT compromise on this!
- 1 Tbspn Oil - when you heat Butter, always add some oil so the butter won't get burnt/brown
- 10-12 sprigs of Fresh Coriander- chopped fine(I use the stem too....The flavourrrrr uff! Thanks to my Mommy-in-law who had told me about this)
- 1/2 Tspn Cumin Seeds
- 1 Tspn Ginger Garlic Paste
- 30gm Salted Butter(to be added towards the end just before the Bhaji is about to get ready)
Ingredients for the Tava Pulao
- Leftover Pav Bhaji
- Cooked Basmati Rice
- 2-3 medium size ripe red tomatoes(diced)
- 1 Tbspn Pav bhaji dry masala(I use #Badshah)
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- 1 Tspn Salted Butter(I use Amul)
- 1 Tspn Oil
- 1/2 Tspn Salt
- Some finely chopped Coriander
Ingredients for the Masala Kachumber
- 1 medium sized Onion - chopped fine
- 1 medium sized Tomato - chopped fine
- 1-2 Green Chillies - chopped fine(you can skip this if you don't like too much spice)
- 2-3 sprigs of fresh Coriander - chopped fine
- 1 Tspn salted Butter
- 1 Tspn Oil
- 1/2 Tspn Pav Bhaji dry masala powder
- 1 Tspn Lemon juice
- 2 pinches of salt
For the Masala Pav
- Butter(as per your preference)
- 1 Tspn Dry Masala Powder
- 1 or 2 Tspns of the Pav Bhaji(optional but try it, it tastes superb)
Instructions
Follow the steps to make the Pav Bhaji
- In a cooker, Boil the Potatoes and Green Peas together ,using 2 Cups of Water and 1/2 Tspn Salt. If any water Once the cooker fully releases it's steam, open the cooker lid and with the help of a Masher, mash the Potatoes and Peas and keep asideSafety Tip: If it’s the first time that you’re using the cooker, please watch some videos before doing so incase you live alone or please ask somebody to show you how It has to be usedNote: You can boil the Potatoes and Peas even in a vessel if you don’t want to use a pressure cooker. Just that it will take more time.
- In a Wide Pan, heat 1 Tbspn Butter and Oil
- Add the Cumin seeds
- Add the Onion and Chopped Green Chillies and stir
- After about 3-5minutes, add in the diced Tomatoes, Ginger Garlic paste, some salt and 1 Tspn Kashmiri Chilly Powder and stir. You can cover the pan for the tomatoes to cook quickerNote: The salt helps the Tomatoes to naturally release water hence avoiding the tomatoes getting stuck to the bottom of the vessel. The Red chilly powder helps enhance the colour at this stage
- Once the skin on the tomatoes begin to crinkle, add the mashed potatoes and peas and with the help of a Potato masher, start mashing everything together.Note: You can add water little by little to mash all the ingredients together. DO NOT add all the water together or else it will get difficult to mash the ingredients
- Once everything is mashed, add the Pav Bhaji Masala, Lemon Juice, the remaining chilly powder, remaining Butter and mix/stir everything together. Check foe salt Note: Don't add all the PB masala at once. add some, stir, check. Some like it spicy, some like it mild so adjust the masala as per your preference. Same with the Lemon Juice. If the Tomatoes that you're using are nice and plump, then you may need lesser lemon juice. So check. Also, some PB masalas have salt in it plus we've added salt while boiling the potatoes, so go easy on the salt. You can always add more later.
- Now, lower the heat and let it boil for about 10-15 minutes or so. Add enough water or else the Pav Bhaji will dry out and get stuck to the bottom of the panNote: I suggest to allow the Pav Bhaji to cook a little longer so that the we don't get a raw bitter taste of the masala powder while eating
- After the Pav Bhaji is boiled well, add the Chopped Coriander and stir
- Add the 30gms of Butter to the boiling Pav Bhaji, Let it boil for 30 seconds and turn off the heat.
- Your delicious Pav Bhaji is tayyyyyar!!!
Follow these steps to make the Masala Pao
- Two Ways1) Apply some butter on both sides of Soft Pav(Bombay laadi Pav), toast it on a Pan and enjoyyyyy 2) In a Pan, heat Butter, add the dry Pav Bhaji masala powder and a little Pav bhaji and mix it, Place the Pav over this mixture, and immediately flip the Pav so as to allow the other side of the Pav to soak up this masala. Let the Pav get toasted on the Pan for 10-20 seconds and enjoy it nice and Hot with the garma garam Pav Bhaji.Don't forget to add a nice dollop of Butter in the centre of your garma garam Pav Bhaji and enjoy it with some finely Chopped onions with a squeeze of Lemon!! Uffffff
Follow these steps to make the Tava Pulao
- In a pan, heat butter and oil together so that the butter doesn't get burntAdd the Tomatoes, Salt and Pav bhaji masala, sautè for a few seconds and cover the pan
- Once the Tomatoes start getting cooked and begin to release water(the salt helps to do this), take a masher and pureè the Tomatoes
- Mix the Rice and Pav Bhaji together and keep aside(you can use how much ever you wish. Some like it dry, some like it mushy)
- Just toss it on high heat in a pan and Tadaaaaa Chowpatty ka Tava Pulao Ekdum ready!!!
Follow these steps to make the Tava Kachumbar
- 1) In a Pan(you can use the same pan), heat the Butter and Oil together2) Add the Pav Bhaji Dry masala powder and salt3) Add the chopped Onion, Tomato, Green Chilly, Lemon juice and chopped Coriander and just toss for about 10 seconds and just like that your Masala Kachumbar is readyyyy too (don't fully cook it. The onions have to be crunchy. This is enjoyed as a cooked Salad)
