Pav Bhaji with typical condiments: chopped onions, lime or lemon wedges, chopped cilantro.
This is the Pav Bhaji I made in Minita Sanghvi’s cooking class, taking notes frantically because she cooks from instinct, not recipes. The quantities for some spices seem quite small but the dish was not lacking flavor; feel free to add more if you like. Makes 10 main course servings.
Ingredients:
3 large potatoes, about 2 lbs, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
8 oz cauliflower florets, fresh or frozen
8 oz peas and carrots mix, frozen
2 medium onions, preferably red, peeled and chopped medium fine
8 cloves garlic
½ green bell pepper, seeded and cored and coarsely chopped
¼ t cumin powder
½ t turmeric
½ t nigella/galonga (optional)
¼ t asafoetida (this spice is used by Jains who are not supposed to eat onion or garlic; since those are already in the recipe I would consider eliminating it)
½ bunch cilantro (reserve the rest for garnish)
2-4 oz butter, ghee, neutral oil or a combination (Minita used a full stick of butter; I did half butter, half peanut oil)
2 jalapeños, stemmed but not seeded and finely chopped
8 garlic cloves
2 t Kashmiri chili powder (can substitute non-smoked paprika but the flavor is not the same)
3 T Pav Bhaji masala (essential; buy from Amazon or an Indian foods store)
28 oz can diced tomatoes
Salt to taste (maybe 1 T)
Dinner rolls:
Butter
Kashmiri chili powder or paprika for rolls
Salt
Chopped onions (for garnish)
Chopped fresh cilantro (for garnish)
Quartered lime or lemon (for garnish.
Method: cook the potatoes in a good amount of salted water until just tender; add cauliflower, peas and carrots after a few minutes so all are cooked tender. Drain and reserve. Sauté onion in butter or oil mixture over low heat, gradually adding spices and stirring as you go: first the garlic, then jalapeños, then cumin, turmeric, asafoetida, nigella, Kasmiri chili powder. When the onions are tender and spices are well blended and aromatic, add the tomatoes, then the drained vegetable mixture. Add Pav Bhaji masala and salt and adjust seasoning to taste. Mix with a stick blender or stand blender to your desired preference, lumpy or smooth.
Slice dinner rolls in half and heat in a toaster oven or skillet with a good amount of butter. Serve with the pav bhaji along with chopped onions, lemon or lime slices and chopped cilantro for garnish.
