Pav bhaji
Mashed Spiced Vegetables with Buttered Rolls
Pav bhaji is a street dish of Mumbai: vegetables boiled and mashed and fried with tomato, onion and spice until it forms a thick paste, served with soft rolls toasted in butter, lime and fresh coriander.
Pav bhaji is a classic of Mumbai street food.
The chef's recipe boils potato, sweet potato, carrot and cauliflower, fries onion, a ginger-garlic paste, tomato and curry powder, adds the mash and peas and fries about 10 minutes into a paste, and serves it on rolls toasted in butter.
Ingredients
For the ginger-garlic paste (makes extra)
- 125 g fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
- 125 g garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
For the bhaji
- 1 potato, peeled
- 1/2 sweet potato, peeled
- 2 carrots, peeled
- 4 cauliflower florets
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 white onion, finely diced
- 2 tsp of the ginger-garlic paste
- 3 tomatoes, diced
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp Sri Lankan curry powder
- 50 g frozen peas
- 1 tbsp butter
To serve
- 4 soft white bread rolls
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 lime
- 1 tbsp chopped coriander
Method
- Make the paste Blend the ginger, garlic, salt and oil until smooth. It keeps for 3 to 7 days in the fridge; you need only 2 tsp.
- Boil the vegetables Chop the potato and sweet potato and boil for 10 minutes. Add the carrots and cauliflower and cook for 10 more minutes until soft. Drain and mash.
- Make the bhaji Heat the oil and fry the onion for 5 minutes. Add 2 tsp of the paste for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, salt and curry powder and cook for 5 minutes. Add the mash and the peas and fry for about 10 minutes until it is a thick paste, adding the butter.
- Toast the rolls Halve the rolls and toast them in the 1 tsp of butter for about 1 minute a side.
- Serve Spoon the bhaji over the buttered rolls, squeeze over lime juice and scatter with coriander.
Mash well; the bhaji should be a paste.
Use a wide pan so the water cooks off.