Pav Bhaji Recipe
Delicious Pav bhaji is a popular street style snack from Mumbai which is a smooth melange of mixed vegetables cooked in lots of butter. Served with butter toasted buns called pav! No Fail Recipe!
Servings: 6
Calories: 276kcal
Ingredients
- 5-6 tablespoons Butter divided
- 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
- 1 tablespoon Garlic Paste (or Minced Garlic)
- 1 teaspoon Green Chilies finely chopped or paste
- 1 cup Capsicum chopped
- 1.5 cups Onions finely chopped
- ¼-⅓ cup Beetroot (optional) chopped
- 2 cups Tomatoes finely chopped
- 5 tablespoons Pav Bhaji Masala divided
- 1 tablespoon Kashmiri Red Chili Powder
- 4 Potatoes (350 grams)
- 1.5 cup Cauliflower Florets (approx 150 gms) florets
- 1 ¼ cup Green Peas fresh or frozen
- 1.5 cups Water
- Salt to taste
- 2 teaspoons Dried Fenugreek Leaves (kasuri methi)
For Serving
- Butter as needed
- Pav or Dinner rolls or Buns
- Coriander Leaves chopped
- Onions chopped
- Lemon wedges
Instructions
- Heat 3 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of oil together in the inner pot of Instant pot or traditional pressure cooker.
- Add garlic paste, green chili paste, chopped capsicum and sauté for 30 seconds.
- Add chopped onions and sauté for 1 minute or until onions are soft and pink.
- Add chopped beetroot, tomatoes, Kashmiri red chilli powder and 2 tablespoons of paav bhaji masala powder. Sauté for another minute.
- Add potatoes, cauliflower and green peas, mix. Add 1.5 cups of water and salt to the pot and stir once.
- Close the pot with valve in sealing position, cancel sauté button and press manual/pressure cook button. Pressure cook the veggies for 10 minutes on high pressure. In a traditional pressure cooker, cook for 2-3 whistles on high flame and then simmer for 6-7 minutes on low heat.
- Once cooking is over, let the pressure release naturally.
- Carefully open the lid, and with the help of potato masher or immersion blender, smash the cooked vegetables coarsely.
- Switch on the sauté mode again in Instant Pot. (Switch on the heat of stove top for traditional pressure cooker method).
- Add the remaining butter, 3 tbsp of pav bhaaji masala. kasuri methi, and check for the salt. If you feel gravy is too thick, then add little water and allow it to simmer for 2-3 minutes.
To fry the pav
- To make buttered pav, slit the pav first.
- Then, heat the tawa or pan and melt butter on it. Sprinkle some pav bhaaji masala (optional step). Then fry the pav from both the sides.
To serve it
- Dish out the ladlefull of bhaji on a serving plate and top it with a blob of butter and coriander leaves.
- Serve it with buttered pav along with chopped onions and lemon wedges on the side.
Notes
- Cups and spoons measure used in the recipe are as per the American standard.
- You can adjust the spiciness of the vegetable gravy as per to suit your taste. If you wish to make it mild, then reduce the amount of spice powders accordingly.
- Always use Kashmiri red chilli powder to enhance the colour of the dish. You can also use Cayenne or regular red chili powder. Alternatively, for good red colour in bhaji, consider adding a bit of red chilli paste.
- Adjust the consistency of the bhaji gravy as per your liking. Some like it dry and some like it to be with gravy. So go on ahead and add water accordingly to the gravy.
- You can add beetroot for deeper red colour. But do not add too much, ¼ to ⅓ cup is fine for the above measure. You can skip it too.
- You can serve it as a snacks, breakfast, lunch and even dinner.
- Do not compromise on butter, add it generously to the gravy as well as while serving.
- If you wish to make bhaji in oil, you can surely go ahead with it. However, the authentic taste of the paav bhaji from the streets of mumbai can be achieved only when cooked in butter.
- Kasuri Methi is key ingredient to enhance the flavour of the dish, so do not skip it.
- Always top the bhaji with loads of chopped onions, fresh cilantro, and squeeze the lemon generously to the best taste.
- To make this recipe vegan, replace dairy butter with vegan butter and proceed.
- In this recipe, I have not added any food colour, but if you wish to get brighter red color, you can add a pinch of red food color to the bhaji.
- To make this recipe on stove top in pan, please refer to the method 1 with detailed step by step photos in the post above.
Nutrition
Calories: 276kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 116mg | Potassium: 968mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1620IU | Vitamin C: 73mg | Calcium: 80mg | Iron: 5.5mg