Bombay Pav Bhaji – a Street Food Recipe (without Pav Bhaji Masala)

I have never gone to Bombay...I don’t even know how to go there..The only thing I know is about its cuisine..I know that Bombay is famous for its street food..

I came across these street foods dishes from one of Tarla Dalal Cookbook namely “Mumbai’s Road Side Snacks”..I have bookmarked so many recipes from that book to try out..

I love to eat street food dishes..The place where I live don’t have that many street food shops..It does have a few portable ones and I have tried their food couple of times..

They don’t use best quality ingrediants..They never touch expensive stuffs..They don’t even serve in fancy bowls and saucers..But I don’t know how those dishes taste great than many huge restaurants..

I think its all from the flavours they add in their dishes and serving them as fresh as possible..I know that they serve dishes piping hot right from the stove..

This is one of mumbai’s top street food recipe..My recipe is made right from scratch,It doesn’t require the store bought pav bhaji masala powder..So I hope you can try it ASAP..

Here you go for the step by step recipe with pictures..

Ingrediants:

Pav Buns as needed

Butter-2 tblspn

Onion-1 sliced

Lemon Juice as needed

For Bhaji:

Vegetables(I used potato,cauliflower,peas,capsicum)

Onion-2 finely chopped

Tomato-3 chopped finely

Cumin powder / Jeeraka podi-1 tsp

Chilli powder -2 tsp

Garam masala powder-1 tsp

Coriander powder / Malli podi-2 tsp

Chat Masala powder-1 tsp

Salt to taste

Red food colouring -1 pinch(optional)

Coriander leaves / Cilantro for garnishing

Butter-5 tblspn

Method:

Take chopped vegetables in a kadai and cover it with water,so that vegetables are just covered..Add salt to this.Cook this till the vegetables are well cooked..

Melt butter in a kadai and add in onions and cook till golden brown.

Add in all spice powders and mix well.Add in chopped tomatoes and mix well.

Pour in some water and season with some salt.Add in food colouring too..

Cover and cook this for 10 to 15 min until the tomatoes becomes mushy and the gravy turns saucy.

Now add in all the cooked vegetables and mix well.

Now take a potato masher and start mashing the vegetables..Mash till the vegetables are no longer whole..

Cover it and simmer for 10-15 mins..Serve with pav buns..

To serve pav bhaji...Add a tblspn of butter in a tawa and add some bhaji on top of it..Add some cilantro on top.

Set this bhaji mixture to a side and heat another tblspn of butter and add a cut open pav bun and fry for 1 min.

Now remove the pav bun to a plate and add the bhaji to the side..Dollop a spoonful of butter on top and add some onions too..Squeeze some lemon juice and serve..

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Pictorial:

Take all your ingrediants

Assorted Vegetables

Prepare everything

take this in a kadai and add water and salt

Cover and cook

untill the veggies are cooked

Now chop your onions very finely

and also your tomatoes

melt a good amount of butter

add in onions and fry for 3 mins

add in spice powders

more spice powders

and your chat masala powder

now add in tomatoes

and some water

season with some salt

add in a dash of red colour

mix well

add in the cooked veggies

mix well

take a potato masher thingy

and start mashing

mash mash and take the heck out of the veggies

Continue mashing untill you reach a saucy texture

cover again and simmer for a while

Bhaji is ready

Now to serve the pav bhaji..Take the pav buns

slit them in half

melt some butter in a tawa

add a good amount of bhaji

top with some cilantro and lemon juice

set the bhaji aside and melt some more butter..(YES Lots of butter..But You know right "Butter makes everything Better" )

Invert the pav buns over this

toast untill golden

Serve

If you wish you could add a blob of butter on top of the bhaji