Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji - Popular Street food from Mumbai consisting of spiced smooth mashed mix vegetables, served with lightly roasted buttered bread.

recipe type: Mumbai Street food

cuisine: Indian

serves: 5-6 plates of pav bhaji

ingredients (measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml)

• 3 medium sizes potatoes, 250 gms
• 1 to 1.25 cups cups chopped cauliflower, 120 to 130 gms cauliflower
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• ¾ to 1 cup peas, fresh or frozen or soaked dried white peas
• ½ (half) cup chopped french beans (optional)
• 1 large onion - finely chopped
• 2 to 3 large tomatoes - finely chopped, about 2 to 2.5 cups finely chopped tomatoes, tightly packed
• 1 medium sized capsicum/green bell pepper
• 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 or 2 green chilies, chopped
• 3 to 3.5 tbsp pav bhaji masala
• ½ tsp garam masala powder (optional)
• 1 tsp chilly powder or freshly pounded 1-2 dry deseeded red chilies - the latter works much better and imparts a beautiful orange color to the bhaji
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1.5 to 2 cups water or add as required
• 2 to 3 tbsp amul butter, butter is also added later while serving, you can add upto 5 to 6 tbsp of butter too for a richer version
• salt as required
• 12 pavs for serving with the bhaji

how to make the recipe:

Preparing the Bhaji:

1. Rinse all the vegetables well.
2. Boil all the vegetables except onions, tomatoes and capsicum in a pressure cooker or microwave oven.
3. Finely chop the onions, green chilies, tomatoes and capsicum. Keep aside
4. Once the potatoes, cauliflower etc are cooked. Then peel the potaotes. Roughly chop all the steamed veggies and then mash them lightly with a potato masher. Keep aside. Just lightly mash. Don't make a puree.
5. In a pan, add butter.
6. When the butter melts, add cumin seeds. When they sizzle, add the chopped onions.
7. Saute the onions till they become translucent. Now add the ginger-garlic paste.
8. Saute till the raw aroma of the ginger-garlic paste disappears.
9. Add chopped green chilies and fry for half a minute.
10. Add the tomatoes and fry them till they become soft and mush, till you fat releasing the sides. About 6 to 7 minutes on low to medium flame.
11. Add the chopped capsicum. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
12. Now add the red chilly powder, turmeric powder and pav bhaji masala. also add garam masala now if adding.
13. Mix the dry masalas well. Fry for a couple of minutes till the capsicum become a little soft.
14. You don't need to make the capsicum very soft. A little crunch is alright.
15. Now add the mashed vegetables.
16. Combine the mashed vegetables well with the masala.
17. Add water and combine everything well. Season with salt.
18. With a potato masher, mash the veggies directly in the pan.
19. Keep on stirring occasionally and let the bhaji simmer for 12 to 15 minutes on a low flame. If the bhaji becomes dry and then add some more water. The consistency is neither very thick nor thin.
20. When the pav bhaji simmers to the desired consistency, check the taste. Add salt, pav bhaji masala, red chili powder or butter if required.
21. When done, garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with chopped onions and chopped lime. The lime juice has to be squeezed on the bhaji and topped with chopped onions.
22. While serving, add amul butter to the bhaji and serve with buttered pavs.
23. You can add more butter, if you like it. In fact, with more butter, the pav bhaji tastes very good.

To make the buttered pavs:

1. Slice the pavs/bread rolls .
2. On a flat pan, heat some butter.
3. When the butter melts, keep the pavs on the melted butter so that it absorbs the butter and fry for a minute.
4. If you want to make the pav crisp, fry for a few more minutes. Serve the pavs hot with the bhaji.

Bread Cutlet Chat

I remember Amma making Bread Pakodas, funny how I never came around posting our yummy Bread pakodas. When Amma gets to make Pakodas, she has an array of vegetables and other things for pakodas, bread being an integral part of it. She also does bread bajjis that i have done before.

Interesting how stuffing this makes it so delicious for kids. To make it more healthy, I pan fried these pakodas, though two were deep fried. Bread absorbs so much oil that it's just so hideous. And shallow fried pakodas tasted just as well.

For Masala :
3 medium potatoes boiled peeled and finely chopped (this will make 2 cups of chopped potatoes)
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
1/8 teaspoon turmeric (haldi)
1/4 teaspoon mango powder (amchoor)
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 green chili finely chopped adjust to taste
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (hara dhania)
1/2 teaspoon salt adjust to taste

Method:
To prepare stuffing:
1.Boil potatoes. Peel and mash them using a masher.
2.In a pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds.
3.When seeds start to splutter,add green chillies and curry leaves.Saute for about 10 seconds.
4.Now, add green peas. Saute them for about 2 min.
5.Then add the mashed potatoes and crumbled paneer.Saute for a couple of minutes again.
6. Add all the dry spices now and mix really well.
7.Garnish with cilantro and in a 2-3 minutes turn off the heat. Let it come to room temperature.

For Bread:
Soak the bread for few seconds in water n squeeze gently.

On one of the slice, spread the masala,

 fold it and  press well for it to get sealed. Deep fry them in oil..
This itself is a snack.. But to make it as chaat, cut deep fried stuffed bread into pieces.. Add veggies as you need.. I added Cucumber, Onion, chopped cilantro, yoghurt and lime juice..

Simple Corn Chat

Masala corn or corn chaat is a very simple, healthy and flavorful recipe which can be prepared in a jiffy and needs very less ingredients. It can be had as a snack and is loved by everyone. You can prepare this healthy and nutritious chaat for your kids, when they come back from school. It is a healthier option than cakes and cookies and kids will love it for sure. Today we will learn how to make Masala corn/Butter masala corn at home following this easy recipe.

 

   Ingredients needed

   Sweet corn - 1 cup heaped
   Butter - 2 tsp
   Garam masala or Chaat masala - 1/4 tsp
   Chilli powder - less than 1/4 tsp
   Fresh lemon juice to taste
   Salt to taste

Preparation 

Wash and steam corn with a little salt. Alternatively you can also boil corn in a little water until soft.

Method 

Melt butter, add the cooked corn, salt needed, garam masala powder, chilli powder and saute for 2-3 seconds.

Remove from heat, stir in a few drops of lemon juice and serve hot.

Variations

You can substitute chilli powder with pepper powder.

Frozen corns and regular corn can also be used to prepare this recipe.