Pav Bhaaji - Mumbai Street Chaat

Street foods are always everyone's favourite. Street vendors are the bagpipers of the "food world" enticing the crowd with their chanters - "Tasty Appetizing food".  No matter how much we talk about hygiene and their health effects, they continue to please the crowd, right from ancient times. Yeah, you read that right, "Since ancient times". They have been in existence as early as 1300's. Know more about this in wiki. One such fast food in India, more specifically in the category of "Chaat" is "Paav Bhaaji". The king of Mumbai Street foods.

A delectable spicy savoury from the Indian streets rooted in the Marathi Cuisine. There is a tale behind every dish and this also has one of its own. The textile mill workers in Mumbai wanted to have a light lunch so that they can continue their physical work at ease post lunch. It had to be a light meal as well as a healthy one. What can be more nutritious than a mix of veggies? In North India, Roti/ Chapathi is a staple food and it is eaten with a Sabzi, i.e. vegetables. So a vendor replaced Rice or roti with Pav- Indian small bread and Sabzi, a veg gravy with one single veg spicy mix, known as bhaaji. Thus Pav Bhaji was born, the most famous Fast food loved by everyone.

Quite easy to make and there is no hard and fast rule for this recipe. Throw in all the available veggies and cook them and smash them, a pinch of this and that spices and mix. Butter roast the pav and serve it hot with a lime wedge and some more butter.

5 from 1 vote

Print

Pav Bhaji

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

30 mins

 

Mumbai street food. Soft dinner rolls dunked in a spicy vegetable gravy topped with raw onions and lime wedges. Pav - Buns & Bhaaji - veggie side.

Course: Chaat

Cuisine: Indian

Servings: 4

Author: Nisha

Ingredients

For Bhaaji

List 1: pressure cook or cook until the veggies are mashed

• 2 cup chopped tomatoes
• ¼ cup chopped potatoes
• ¼ cup peas fresh or frozen
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

List 2:

• 2 tablespoon Butter
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ cup finely chopped onions
• 3 green chillies finely chopped
• 1 cup chopped capsicum
• Salt  to taste
• Few Coriander leaves for garnishing

For Paav

• 6 pav buns
• ¼-1/2 teaspoon pav bhaaji masala for each paav
• 1 teaspoon butter for each paav

Serving

• 1 teaspoon Butter per paav
• 2-3 tablespoon Chopped onions per paav
• Few lemon wedges

Instructions

For Bhaaji

1. Add all the ingredients in List 1 to a pressure cooker. The vegetables have to be smashed completely. That's why I prefer to pressure cook. Add water just enough to immerse the veggies. Pressure cook and once the pressure is released, mash the veggies completely with the help of a potato masher. Keep it aside.

2. Heat a Kadai | Pan. Add 2 tablespoon of butter and once it is heated, add cumin seeds and let it splutter.

3. Then add the onions, capsicum and green chilies and saute until the onions become translucent.

4. Then add the cooked veggies, chili powder and paav baaji masala and stir it well. Simmer it for4-5 mins.
5. Check for salt and the seasoning and add more if needed. Add water if the gravy becomes very thick. Finally garnish it with coriander leaves.

For  Pav

1. Heat a grill or a Dosa Kal or a tawa. Meanwhile slit the paav lengthwise into half. You can either slit it fully or slit it till just before the end.
2. Once the grill heats, add ½  Tbsp butter and ¼ teaspoon paav bhaaji masala. Place the slit side of the paav (softer side) on the tawa and rub it in the butter and masala mix.  Keep pressing until the sides become golden brown. You can brown both the sides or just the inside alone.
3. Repeat the same for the rest.

Assembling & Serving

1. Fill the bhaaji in a small bowl. Fill the plate with the butter roasted paav, some onions and lemon wedges. Add the butter to the bhaaji just before serving.
2. Serve it while the paav is still warm. Otherwise it might get hardened.

This post is a part of the Blogging marathon and this week's theme is Street food. So the three posts this week are going to be about popular Indian street foods.  

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#83