Pav Bhaji (Street food of Mumbai)

Getting back to blogging after a short break, feels so good to be back in my comfort zone :)
It was Monday, Presidents day a long weekend in USA. Had a busy rest of the weekend having too much fun! Thought of lazying around while cleaning up the house and at sharp 11:08am had a craving to eat pav bhaji after my eyes wandered on the potato bag in the pantry :) Got lucky as I had all the ingredients in the fridge except pav (Indian bread). After begging for 5 minutes to my Pati-dev who thinks weekends are his right to be a couch potato, sent him off to the store to get the pav while I geared myself to make some YUMM-O street food.

This dish is a big hit at my house and relished amongst my friends. I got this recipe from a Juhu beach vendor in Mumbai on Youtube some years back. Can't go wrong, right? I have customized the recipe just a little bit as per my convenience. I was actually surprised to see couple of ingredients that went into it like kasoori methi and hing. Well, it only adds more great flavors to say the least.

Another huge USP of this dish, can add as many variety of vegetables you want and kids will not even know :) because potatoes overpowers the rest of the clan :)- So yes, Moms can go YAY!!

Pav Bhaji was invented as a midnight dish by street food vendors, made with all the leftover vegetables from the day, mashed up together, with loads of added spice, and butter. Bhaji is the Marathi word for a vegetable dish, and pav probably comes from the Portuguese word for bread.

All I can say is try it and see if you like it.

Ingredients:

For the Bhaji:

• 2 big potatoes boiled, peeled and mashed lightly
• 4-5 ripe tomatoes chopped ( if not sour enough, add extra tbsp of tomato paste)
• 1 capsicum chopped
• 10 flowerets of cauliflower (roughly chopped)
• 1 small carrot chopped (optional)
• 1/2 cup peas boiled
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp Kashmiri chili pwd (to give more color than spiciness)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4th tsp turmeric pwd
• 1- 2 tbsp pav bhaji masala (everest or mtr)
• handful chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 tbsp fenugreek leaves
• pinch asafetida 
• 2 tbsp of oil
• food color orange 1 pinch ( if you want that gorgeous color :))

To Fry the Pav:

• Butter
• Cilantro leaves
• Prepared Pav Bhaji

Garnish Ingredients:

• Chopped onion
• Sev
• Lemon pieces
• Dallop of butter on it

6 Pav (store bought for now)
Minimum 2 Pav each person to relish all that goodness of buttery bhaji :)

Preparation:

• In a non stick pan, heat oil, add capsicum, cauliflower, (carrots if using it) and quickly saute it for 2 to 3 minutes. 
• Add ginger garlic paste and let it cook for little bit more till the raw smell goes away. Add asafetida, kasoori methi and cook for a minute.
• Now add chopped tomatoes and saute it for couple of minutes. You can add 1 tbsp butter now and let it cook till you see some oil coming out from the corners. Stir in between.
• Add masalas - turmeric pwd, chilli pwd and pav bhaji masala, salt mix everything together quickly. 
• Add boiled potatoes and with a masher, start mashing everything together. Add water little by little till you get the consistency of thickness/thinness you want. It is always semi thick. Potatoes basically absorb water. 
• Taste it and see if it needs adjustment, if your tomatoes are not sour enough, add lemon juice.
• Add food color if you want.
• Let it cook on sim flame for about 7-8 minutes. Keep stirring in between and add water as you like. Add another tbsp of butter :)
• Garnish it with Cilantro and switch off the gas.

How to fry the Pav just before serving:

• Cut the Pav in the centre and semi open it.
• On a frying pan, add butter, as it sizzles add bhaji, cilantro and place the pav face down and cook for few sec. Drizzle some butter or oil on top and serve hot.

How to Serve Pav Bhaji:
Serve good amount of bhaji in a compartmented plate, chopped onion, cilantro and lemon slices on one end, you can add onions, sev and butter on top of the hot bhaji, and masala fresh pav on the other side.

Trust me, eating is much easier than writing how to serve Pav Bhaji :):) (joke)

If you are street food junkie, you may also like
Missal Pav,  Baked Potatoes Wedges,  Mumbai's special Masala Sandwich

njoY!! happY cookinG!!

Health Benefits:

Due to the increased interest in foods that are low-carb or low-glycemic index, the potato has unjustly earned a bad reputation. Potatoes consumed in simple roasted, grilled, boiled, steamed manner with little or no oil/butter is very healthy and nutritious for health.
It is loaded with calcium, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, iron that helps in having strong bones.
It has vitamin B6 which supports heart health.
Choline is a very important and versatile nutrient in potatoes that helps with sleep, muscle movement, learning and memory.