Pav Bhaji | Pao Bhaji | Bhaji Pav | Bhaji Pao | Indian Street food

Hubby and I love Pao Bhaji, and almost everybody i know relishes this :) So when we shifted to Hyderabad, we were hit by Pao-Bhaji crisis...as we couldn't find any place that served Pao Bhaji the way we like it (Amdavadi style)....

So i had to learn to make it. Though i knew the theory as i had seen my mom make it many times, i never tried my hands on practical. It was the first time in hyderabad, i made Bhaji-Pao. My mom and MIL both makes it in almost similar way. But my mom sometimes tends to sneak in veggies(Bringal) that otherwise we wouldn't eat. Yes, you can do that too ;)

And once we shifted to Noida, i started baking Pao also as the Pao here are a bit too sweet for our taste..So i make Bhaji pao from scratch!!!

Bhaji with homemade Pao...

Here is the recipe of Bhaji:

Ingredients:

4 Medium sized onions (Finely cut)

4 Medium sized tomatoes (Finely cut)

2 small capsicum (Finely cut)

1 small Cauliflower - washed, cleaned and florets cut

1/2 small Cabbage -washed, cleaned and Shredded

1/2 Cup Peas

4 Big Potatoes - washed, cleaned and cut in big chunks

1 teaspoon Ginger Garlic paste

Salt to taste

2 Teaspoon Bhajipao masala

1 teaspoon Garam masala

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

pinch of turmeric (If you want red colour then you can skip this)

1/4 cup oil (you can take more or less as per your liking)

2 Tablespoon of butter

1 medium sized onion (finely cut) for garnishing

Pao (you can bake your own or buy)

Method:

1) Boil Potatoes, Peas, Cauliflower and cabbage together in pressure cooker.

2) Meanwhile in a big pan take oil, add onions and ginger garlic paste and saute on medium flame till they turn a little brown.

3) Now add Capsicum to the pan and saute till it gets cooked.

4) Now add tomatoes to that, keep mixing till tomatoes are cooked and squishy.

5) Add Red chili powder, turmeric, Garam masala and bhaji pao masala.

6) Mix well and keep cooking on medium flame for 5 minutes or till oil separates.

7) By this time your veggies will be boiled. So take them out and remove the stock. (Store stock in a separate vessel, you can use it to adjust consistency of Bhaji)

8) Crush the veggies nicely using a potato crusher. No vegetable should be seen separately (except for few peas)

9) Add these crushed veggies to the pan along with the stored water, mix well and let it simmer on low flame for 20-30 minutes.

10) Add the butter & raw onion and serve hot along with Pao/Paratha/Bread, finely cut oninons and lemon wedges.

I personally prefer to add onions and lemon juice to the Bhaji before i eat but hubby likes it only with onions, ditto for Zini...

Notes:

1) In place of oil you can use butter to cook the bhaji. You can aslo add a chunk of butter in the cooked bhaji. More taste but more calories - Take your pick...

2) You can also add halved Kajus, for that fry them along with onions.

3) If you like cheese then you can make cheese bhaji by sprinkling grated cheese on the top.

4) To reiterate, if you like the colour red then skip turmeric.

+techie ZM