Today I packed pav bhaji for my hubby’s lunch. Pav bhaji is originated from Maharashtra, the most popular city in India where most of the bollywood/Indian movies were made.

Pav bhaji is very well known as street food, now this food is easily found everywhere in India. The seller used to sell this food on a very big and flat pan which they called “tawa”. It is actually the thick vegetable gravy which is served with bread.

Based per the history which I found from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pav_bhaji), the origin of this dish is traced to the heyday of the textile mills in Mumbai. The mill workers used to have lunch breaks too short for a full meal, and a light lunch was preferred to a heavy one, given that physical work followed immediately. A vendor created this dish using items or parts of other dishes available on the menu. Roti or rice was replaced with pav and the curries that usually go with Indian bread or rice were amalgamated into just one spicy concoction-the ‘bhaji’. Initially, it remained the food of the mill-workers.

Ingredient:

• 5 pcs buns
• Butter
• 2 pcs big potatoes, for smaller size potatoes use 3 pcs, chopped
• 1 pcs carrot, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped cauliflower
• 1/2 cup chopped cabbage
• 2 pcs tomato, chopped
• 1 pcs capsicum/green pepper, chopped
• 50 grm onion leaves, cut to small pieces
• 1 pcs big onion, chopped
• 2 pcs garlic and 1 1/2 cm ginger, make a paste
• 1/2 pc lemon to garnish
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp pav bhaji masala (easily found in many indian shops)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp red chilly powder

To make the Bhaji:

• Boil the chopped potatoes, carrot, cauliflower and cabbage
• Separate the water and mashed the boiled vegetables
• Heat 3 tbs butter
• Fry the chopped onion until brownish
• Add the garlic and ginger paste, stir well for few seconds until the good smell comes out
• Add the chopped tomatoes and capsicum mix well and cook until tender
• Add turmeric powder, red chilly powder, pav bhaji masala, salt and sugar
• Mix well
• Add 1 cup water (the water which was used to boil the vegetable) and stir
• Add more water if required if the bhaji still very thickand stir well and bring to boil
• Turn off the flame
• Add the onion leaves, lemon juice and one tbs butter
• Serve with the buns

To Make the Pav:

• Cut the buns from the sides just like when you cut the bun for making burger
• Apply the butter on both sides of the buns
• Fry on the flat pan
• Serve with the bhaji

Bookmark To:

Tags: bhaji, india, indian, Indian Cuisine, indian curry, indian food, indian spices, junk food, maharashtra, pav, pav bhaji, street food, street indian food, vegetable, Vegetarian

Trackback URI | Comments RSS