Paav Bhaji - Mumbai Magic

He're a classic dish from Bombay. Aamchi Mumbai is famous for its bhel, pani puri, shev puri, dahi puri, ragda patties and other chat varieties. My personal favorites have always been paav bhaji from this particular hotel Jayprakash (if I remember the name right) at Chembur, and vada paav from Kunj Vihar in Thane (this one I cannot forget the name!). I'll make an entirely different post dedicated to vada paav, but this one's for paav bhaji.

How do I know so much about Mumbai and Mumbaikaars you ask me? I've spent almost a month every year at Bombay, till I came to the U.S. (I've all my paternal cousins and uncles and aunties in Bombay) . Countless plates of chat and mumbai street food have been consumed at every occassion and its a sheer pleasure to watch the street vendors prepare the bhel or pav bhaji in a jiffy!

In Marathi pav means bread and bhaji means a curry and vegetable mix. The pav is roasted with an ample amount of butter and masala until golden brown, and garnished with diced onion and a slice of lemon and served with the bhaji. The pav bhaji available on hand carts popularly known as Pav bhaji ki Gaadi, on the streets of Mumbai/Pune tastes even better than some of the sit-down restaurants. If you are visiting my site, its highly likely that you've had pav bhaji before, if not you've gotta try this recipe. Its a light meal that's good either as a lunch or a light dinner. This recipe is from a book of fast foods that I have.














Paav Bhaji with traditional sides - Nimbu (lemon) and Kaandha (onion)

Ingredients
Boiled potatoes - 2big
Boiled mixed vegetables ( I usually prefer just carrots and peas). - 1/2cup
Boil and mash the vegetables coarsely and keep aside.
Tomato Puree - 2 cups
Red Onion chopped very fine - 1 cup
Green chillies - 2-3
Garlic paste - 2tsp
Salt
Pav bhaji masala ( Everest or Badshah) - 2tbsp
Amchur powder 1/2 tsp or lemon juice - 1tsp
Butter 2tsp ( can use salted or unsalted)
oil 2tsp

Dinner rolls (the ones from Publix are good)

For the garnish

butter 2tsp
chopped onions-2tsp
chopped corriander 1/2cup
lemon wedges

Method

• Heat a kadai,add butter & oil
• Next add the chopped onions, green chillies, garlic and fry well, till the onions are translucent.
• Next add the 1/2 of pav bhaji masala and salt and saute for a minute before adding tomatoes.
  
• Cook for 2 mins and next stir in the remaining vegetables.
• Now add 3/4cup of water (I like my bhaji not too thin hence less water. Feel free to add upto half a cup more water) and cook the bhaji until the vegetables are smooth and well cooked .
• Add the remaining pav bhaji masala, more salt if needed and amchur powder (you could also use lemon juice). Cook for just a minute more.
• Remove from flame, add the coriander leaves and serve with the garnishes on the side. You can add some more butter if needed.
• Serve with nice dinner rolls or buns toasted lightly with some butter.