Pav Bhaji is an excellent tasty dish which is gaining popularity not just in India but worldwide. Usually people classify Indian meals as home made and into a full meal category. With more people from India vouching for home cooked meals it seems that fast food and snacking simply does not have a place in Indian food culture.
Well, unfortunately it is here where you are wrong!! Fast foods or Street Food have a special place in Indian culture and you will amazed to find that there are lots of varieties to it.
In India, people enjoy lots of street foods such as Pav Bhaji, various types of Parathas, Kachori, Poha, Samosa, Jalebi and many many more.
You can understand the extent of street food popularity from the fact that almost in every city in India you can easily find night fast food markets and stands.
Where many credit fast food and street food uprising in India to globalisation, it might not be completely true.
This is because many fast foods that we mentioned earlier have their origin dating back to a very long time in Indian food history.
Out of many delicious street foods that you can find in India, Pav Bhaji is one of the most popular dishes that you can easily find in restaurants and hotels throughout India.
Pav Bhaji dish is credited to Mumbai – capital city of the state of Maharashtra. The dish is believed to be a product of Industrialization and Globalization.
Pav Bhaji is basically Pav (a type of bread) which is served along with mixed vegetable dish. It is a calorie rich food due to generous amount of butter and oil used in making this dish.
Pav Bhaji dish for festivals and special events
Since, Pav bhaji is a popular street food it is great idea to cook it during festivals and special events. With recent popularity of street foods, Pav Bhaji has found its place in marriages and other family functions.
In recent times, Pav Bhaji similar to other fast food/street foods such as Chinese fried rice and Chowmein etc now has a place in household functions and parties menu.
Pav Bhaji is also a great idea during festivals where people often want to take break from regular dishes.
To name a few, festivals such as Diwali, Bhai dooj, Rakshabandhan etc are great time to cook this dish as an alternate meal idea during lunch time.
During bigger festivals such as Diwali, usually people prefer to go with more fulfilling meals and variety of dishes such as Puri, Palak Paneer, Shahi Paneer, Kaddu Raita etc as dinner meal.
Read more – 10 Traditional and delicious Indian food recipes for Diwali
Preparation Steps To Make Pav Bhaji
The key to make tasty and delicious Pav Bhaji is to get the mixed vegetable dish aka Bhaji right.
To make Bhaji you need some potatoes, carrots, Cauliflower, Tomatoes, Green chillies, Green capsicum, Green chillies -Garlic paste, onions and garden peas.
To make Pav Bhaji, first you need to boil some vegetables and then later we will mash them to make Bhaji.
To make Bhaji, first peel potatoes and cut them into medium sized pieces.
Now, wash Cauliflower thoroughly in running water and cut it into medium sized pieces. Also, peel Carrots and cut them into medium sized pieces as well.
Now, take potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and garden peas in a pressure cooker and add two cups of water to it. You can also add 1/4 tsp of Salt to it which will ensure that the vegetables soak the salt water well while boiling.
Now, put the Pressure cook on a high flame and take at-least 2 – 3 whistles. Turn off the flame and let the pressure release gradually.
In the meantime, you can finely chop onions, tomatoes, and green capsicum separately in a blender and keep them aside for later use.
Use very little amount of water to blend in case it is not blending properly.
Once it is done, you can now prepare some Green chillies-Garlic paste by blending them using a blender.
By now, the pressure would have been released from the pressure cooker and you can open it now.
Take out boiled vegetables in a bowl and gently mash them using a Spatula.
How To Make Delicious Pav Bhaji
To make Pav Bhaji, first take a frying pan and put it on high flame. Now add, vegetable oil and approx 25 g butter to it.
Once the butter melts, add Cumin seeds to it.
As Cumin seeds will start spluttering and turn dark brown in colour, add finely chopped onion to it.
Saute onions for 2 – 3 minutes until they turn light brown in colour.
Now add finely chopped green chillies – garlic paste to it.
Now add finely chopped capsicum to it and stir it for couple of minutes.
Now it is time to add some Indian spices to it.
Add Salt, Garam Masala, Turmeric, Red chilli powder and Kasuri methi to it. Stir it for a minute.
Now add finely chopped tomatoes to prepare Pav Bhaji gravy. Mix it well with rest of gravy and cover the frying pan. Let it cook for few minutes. Add some water if it starts sticking.
By now, the gravy should have become even and cooked well. Now, add Pav Bhaji masala to gravy and mix it well.
It is now time to add boiled mashed vegetables to Pav Bhaji masala gravy.
Mix it well and let it cook for another 5 – 7 minutes.
Add remaining butter to Bhaji and stir it well.
Cook for few minutes and then turn off the flame.
How To Toast Pav For Pav Bhaji
To complete the dish now you need to prepare Pav. Pav are basically toasted Bun which have been toasted well with generous amount of butter.
To toast Pav all you need is Pav and some butter.
Take another frying pan and put it on high flame.
Put 1 cube of butter on frying pan and spread the butter as it melts.
Now cut Pav horizontally and put them on top of the melted butter.
Slowly press it using Spatula and toss it around to cook it from both sides.
Once toasted, take them out and repeat the process for more servings.
How To Serve Pav Bhaji
While Pav Bhaji is super awesome on it own but it is well served with some lime and finely chopped onions.
Before serving, take a medium sized onion and finely chop half of it. This would be used to top up on Bhaji. For the remaining half of the onion, cut it into larger sized pieces – preferably circular rings.
You may also want to serve some lime with it for that tasty lemony flavour. So, take one lime and cut it into four pieces.
Now you are ready to serve Pav Bhaji. To serve Pav Bhaji garnished it with some fresh coriander leaves, onion and lime. Take generous amount of melted butter and spread it over bhaji for additional flavour.
Pav Bhaji Masala
Long back many people used to prepare Pav Bhaji masala at home but now days there are many great ready made options available in the market.
With Pav Bhaji dish being so popular it is obvious for such recipes to get noticed by many great spice brands.
We recommend you can save lot of your time and effort by going on for these ready made options.
There are quite a few Indian spices brands who have their Pav Bhaji masala option available in Indian market. Some such Brands are – M.D.H, Everest, Badshah and many more.
Based on our personal experience we recommend going for MDH or Everest for Pav Bhaji Masala but the others are as well quite good alternatives.
These brands have been able to give a very close experience of authentic Indian taste to Indian consumers and we highly recommend them to be used in cooking.
Is Pav Bhaji good for health?
Pav Bhaji no doubt is an excellent dish which will make your mouth water and heart wanting for more. It is definitely a dish that you will love to enjoy every now and then but certainly you should be a little careful about it.
It is certainly a tasty dish but we just can’t classify it as healthy. The sole reason for this is the amount of butter that goes in preparing this dish.
To make this dish super awesome and tasty, you need to add lot of butter to it. While making this dish, if you plan to cut down on the butter, you may still be able to make the dish but certainly it won’t match to the expectations that you had been craving for!
So we recommend consuming this dish in moderation.
Pav Bhaji is a calorie rich dish and should be consumed once in a while, mostly in functions, festivals or during those times when you are out in market for some yummy tasty Indian street food.
Chef Recommendation for Pav Bhaji
- It is better to use fresh vegetables to make Pav Bhaji for better taste.
- You can also use Clarified butter aka Ghee to toast Pav instead of butter.
- If you don’t have butter then you can use Ghee as a replacement to make Pav Bhaji however the flavour would be a bit different.
- You can use both salted or unsalted butter to make this dish. In India we recommend Amul butter for best flavour. You can also use homemade butter for better taste.
- If you like you can also squeeze some lime while preparing Bhaji. This will give it sour flavour.
Discover More Recipes
And that is not all folks! Shall we take this opportunity to invite you to discover more tasty and yummy recipes in our food wonderland.
- Check some tasty desserts in our Dessert section.
- Why not try few other Delicious Recipes –
- Check out few sides to compliment with main course –
Pav Bhaji Recipe
Ingredients
Main Ingredients for Pav Bhaji
- 8 Pav Bun
- 250 g Potatoes Aloo
- 100 g Cauliflower Phool Gobhi
- 50 g Carrot Gajar
- 1 cup Garden Peas Matar
- 1 cup chopped onion Pyaz
- 5 Tomato Tamatar (Medium Size)
- 1 cup chopped Green Capsicum Shimla Mirch
- 2 Garlic cloves Lahsun
- 10 g Green chillies Hari Mirch
- 2 tsp Salt or As per taste
- 1.5 tsp Red chilli powder Kashmiri Lal Mirch
- 1 tsp Turmeric Haldi
- 3/4 tsp Cumin Seeds Jeera
- 3.5 tsp Pav Bhaji Masala
- 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp Kasuri Methi
- 60 g Butter Makkhan
- 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- Butter to Roast Pav
- Fresh Coriander leaves for Garnishing
Instructions
Preparation Steps to make Pav Bhaji
- Peel Potatoes and cut them into medium pieces.250 g Potatoes
- Wash Cauliflower thoroughly in running water and cut it into medium pieces.100 g Cauliflower
- Peel Carrots and cut them into medium pieces50 g Carrot
- Now take potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and garden peas in a pressure cooker and add two cups of water to it. Add 1/4 tsp of Salt to it.250 g Potatoes, 100 g Cauliflower, 50 g Carrot, 1 cup Garden Peas
- Pressure cook it for 2 – 3 whistles at max and turn of the flame.
- Meanwhile, finely chop onion, tomatoes, and green capsicum separately in a blender and keep them aside for later use.1 cup chopped onion, 5 Tomato, 1 cup chopped Green Capsicum
- Now take Garlic cloves and green chillies in a blender to make Green chilli – Garlic paste.2 Garlic cloves, 10 g Green chillies
- Once the pressure releases gradually, open the pressure cooker and take boiled vegetables in a bowl.
- Now mash the vegetables properly using a Spatula.
How to make Pav Bhaji
- To make Pav Bhaji, first take a frying pan and put it on high flame.
- Now add, vegetable oil and approx 25 g butter to it.60 g Butter, 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- Once the butter melts, add Cumin seeds to it.3/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
- As Cumin seeds will start spluttering and turn dark brown in colour, add finely chopped onion to it.1 cup chopped onion
- Saute onions for 2 – 3 minutes until they turn light brown in colour.
- Now add finely chopped capsicum to it and stir it for couple of minutes.1 cup chopped Green Capsicum
- Now it is time to add some Indian spices to it.
- Add Salt, Garam Masala, Turmeric, Red chilli powder and Kasuri methi to it. Stir it for a minute.1.5 tsp Red chilli powder, 1 tsp Turmeric, 1/2 tsp Garam Masala, 1 tsp Kasuri Methi, 2 tsp Salt or As per taste
- Now add finely chopped tomatoes to prepare Pav Bhaji gravy. Mix it well with rest of gravy and cover the frying pan. Let it cook for few minutes. Add some water if it starts sticking.5 Tomato
- By now, the gravy should have become even and cooked well. Now, add Pav Bhaji masala to gravy and mix it well.3.5 tsp Pav Bhaji Masala
- It is now time to add boiled mashed vegetables to Pav Bhaji masala gravy.
- Mix it well and let it cook for another 5 – 7 minutes.
- Add remaining butter to Bhaji and stir it well.60 g Butter
- Cook for few minutes and then turn off the flame.
How to toast Pav for Pav Bhaji
- Take another frying pan and put it on high flame.
- Put 1 cube of butter on frying pan and spread the butter as it melts.Butter to Roast Pav
- Now cut Pav horizontally and put them on top of the melted butter.8 Pav
- Slowly press it using Spatula and toss it around to cook it from both sides.
- Once toasted, take them out and repeat the process for more servings.
How to serve Pav Bhaji
- Take a medium onion and finely chop half of it. Cut remaining into larger pieces – usually circular rings.
- Take one lime and cut it into four pieces.
- Now, serve Pav Bhaji garnished with some fresh coriander leaves, onion and lime. Take generous amount of melted butter and spread it over bhaji for additional flavour.Fresh Coriander leaves for Garnishing
Notes
- It is better to use fresh vegetables to make Pav Bhaji for better taste.
- You can also use Clarified butter aka Ghee to toast Pav instead of butter.
- If you don’t have butter then you can use Ghee as a replacement to make Pav Bhaji however the flavour would be a bit different.
- You can use both salted or unsalted butter to make Pav Bhaji. In India we recommend Amul butter for best flavour.
- If you like you can also squeeze some lime while preparing Bhaji. This will give it sour flavour.
Nutrition
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10 Traditional Indian Diwali Food Recipes